Lapsing into a Comma : A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and how to Avoid Them / Edition 1

by Bill Walsh

Overview

No writer's or editor's desk is complete without a battered, page-bent copy of the AP Stylebook. However, this not-so-easy-to-use reference of journalistic style is often not up-to-date and leaves reporters and copyeditors unsatisfied. Bill Walsh, copy chief for the Washington Post's business desk, addresses these shortcomings in Lapsing into a Comma. In an opinionated, humorous, and yes, curmudgeonly way, he shows how to apply the basic rules to unique, modern grammar issues. Walsh explains how to deal with perplexing situations such as trendy words, foreign terms, and web speak.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780809225354
Publisher:	McGraw Hill LLC
Publication date:	05/01/2000
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.51(d)

About the Author

Bill Walsh is the copy chief for the Washington Post's business desk. He also runs a website, www.theslot.com, where he answers questions about style and grammar.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction

1.   Beyond Search and Replace
      Using Your Head as Well as Your Stylebook

2.   You Could Look It Up!
     How to Use a Dictionary With Style

3.   Holding The(Virtual) Fort
     Disturbing Trends in the Information Age
  
      Arbitrary Capitalization
      Call It UNINATI

4.   Literally Speaking
     Write What You Mean, Mean What You Write

5.   Giving 110 Percent
     Why You Needed Those Math Classes After All

6.   Matters of Sensitivity
     Correctness, Political and Otherwise      
   
      Dirty Mind, Clean Copy

7.   He Said, She Said
     Quotations in the News

      "It Is I," Said the Fullback

8.   The Big Type
     Headlines and Captains

9.   Dash It All, Period
     The Finer Points of Punctuation

10.  The Curmudgeon's Stylebook
      Details, Details

       "The 5" Habits of Highly Hollywood People
        Infinitives
        Sloppy Similes
        Moniker Lewinsky
        The "The": Put That Down!
        I'm a Member of the Media, but I'm Not A Medium
        Retronyms, or Sometimes a Muffin Is Just A Muffin
        Passive Aggression

Index

What People are Saying About This

Frank Mankiewicz

An extraordinarily useful guide for any writer. Bill Walsh is a stylist with a sense of humor, a rare commodity these days.Frank Mankiewicz, Former President, National Public Radio

Editorial Reviews

An extraordinarily useful guide for any writer. Bill Walsh is a stylist with a sense of humor, a rare commodity these days." —Frank Mankiewicz, Former President, National Public Radio

1590616480

Contemporary Books

This style manual is meant to serve as a companion to the Associated Press style manual. And what Walsh, copy desk chief at Washington Post, adds to Style is style--the element that the ever precise and dry traditional manuals often lack. Walsh's acerbic tone adds humor to the dry distinctions between "there, their, and they're," which never hurts and may, in fact, contribute to permanent retention. Taking on the web's contributions to slang, such as the prefix "e-" before mail and business, Walsh strikes frequent compromises between traditional style and contemporary usage and concisely explains correct pronunciations and proper definitions of words frequently used incorrectly. A few of the examples of common incorrect usage apply primarily to news reportage, but most have broader application. Those who like curmudgeonly humor find Walsh's writing method rather amusing. A good title for public and college libraries, especially those with the AP style manual.--Robert Moore, Raytheon, Sudbury, MA Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

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