Posts in category: Style on the Go archive

March 13, 2008: Issue 230

Please use tabs, not spaces, to set indents, to define spaces after bullets or numbers, or to line up columns. Here’s why:

Precision In justified type, a space width varies from line to line. A tab hits the right mark every time.

Consistency You might go to great pains to type in just the right number of spaces to make type line up, but any change—as tiny as a hyphen or comma—throws everything off. A tab is unaffected.

Transition Even with formatting cleared, tabs carry over from Microsoft Word to InDesign, and a designer can quickly set the appropriate positions. Multiple spaces just make a mess.

Ease Ruler palettes in both MS Word and InDesign provide a simple, visual-driven way to set tabs. You don’t have to do any math or type in any numbers. Find quick tutorials on tabs for MS Word and InDesign.

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February 28, 2008: Issue 228

With February 29 looming, let’s look at leap and some synonymous terms.

The preferred past tense of leap is leaped (not leapt):
He leaped at the chance to update the back deck.
With new appliances, the kitchen leaped into the 21st century.

Jump start is two words as a noun, hyphenated as a verb:
Early bloomers give this garden a jump start.
Jump-start your healthy day with herbal tea and low-fat applesauce muffins.

Hyphenate compounds with hopping when it’s used in the sense of visiting:
They went museum-hopping for quilt pattern ideas.
Go department-hopping to find the numbered frogs and win a prize at Friday’s party.

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February 14, 2008: Issue 226

Spelling and punctuation for some topical terms:

heart-healthy
heartland
heart pine
heart-to-heart (adj. or n.)
heartwarming
lovable
lovebird
love-in-a-mist
love-lies-bleeding
love seat
loving-kindness
wholeheartedly
valentine
Valentine’s Day

Listen in: Hear my dad and stepmom perform “My Funny Valentine,” off their recently released CD.

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February 21, 2008: Issue 227

Watch out for tautologies, sentences that basically say “up is up” or “blue is blue.” Such truisms often hide under piles of modifiers.

Take this sentence:
A sleek, handy pot filler smartly placed in the green marble-topped island fills oversize pasta pots quickly without forcing the cook to lug ungainly pans of water.

Strip it down to subject, verb, and object, and you get this:
A pot filler fills pots.

To avoid this problem, start with the simplest possible sentence—then add modifiers judiciously.

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January 31, 2008: Issue 224

Lead copy editors have been assigned for nearly all magazines on the 2008-09 schedule—check the CE column. If you’re not sure whose initials those are, check with a staff CE. If you’re working with a CE who’s new to you, here are some suggestions to help establish your working relationship:

Introduce yourself
It’s vital that your CE understand your magazine and its mission before editing your copy. Freelance CEs attend work sessions when they can. Take that opportunity to introduce yourself and your magazine. If the CE can’t be there, send an e-mail or make a phone call. Your staff liaison can provide contact information.

Talk directly if you’d like
When specific style questions arise, feel free to talk to your freelance CE directly. If you’re more comfortable using a staff CE as a go-between, we’re happy to fill that role—but we don’t have to. It’s not a breach of editing etiquette to go straight to the freelancer.

Speak up about issues
If you see a problem emerging, let us know. If a CE makes changes that don’t conform to your magazine’s style, for instance, talk to your staff liaison. We understand that you’re not complaining. The only way we can fix a problem is if we know about it.

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January 10, 2008: Issue 221

In the crush of press coverage leading up to the Iowa caucuses last week, one national news outlet asserted that a certain candidate was banking on his rivals’ attacks backfiring in “notoriously friendly Iowa.”

We might be friendly people, but we can’t be notoriously so; that’s an oxymoron. Notorious means unfavorably known:
notoriously persistent campaign workers
notoriously cold Iowa winters
(or, if you’re a pollster) notoriously unpredictable Iowa voters

When you’re talking about recognition based on positive attributes, stick with famous and synonyms such asrenowned and celebrated.

Yes, they’re still touring: Check out Duran Duran performing “Notorious” this past fall in New York City.Simon Le Bon sounds just as good as he ever did.

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January 3, 2008: Issue 220

No, we’re not talking about making New Year’s resolutions or nominating a presidential candidate. We’re talking about mastheads and postal ID statements.

Mastheads: Always start from the current template. Never copy a masthead from an old issue. The fine print changes frequently, sometimes several times in a single month. If you need help finding the current template, ask a CE. Mastheads with outdated information will be sent back to you.

Postal ID statements: Always start with this boilerplate language. Never copy from an old issue. This language, too, is frequently updated. Subscription titles must include a volume and issue number—if you omit these numbers, the U.S. Postal Service might delay mailing your magazine. If you have trouble figuring them out, ask a CE. Layouts with outdated postal ID statements will be sent back to you.

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December 27, 2007: Issue 219

As we wrap up 2007, let’s look at some words related to years:

anniversary—the yearly (not weekly or monthly) recurrence of a date marking a specific event
annual—occurring once a year; completing a life cycle in a single year
biennial*—occurring every two years; a plant with a two-year life cycle
perennial—occurring year-round; occurring year after year; constant
semiannual*—occurring twice a year

*Biannual can take either of these definitions, so avoid this term unless your intent is to be vague.

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December 13, 2007: Issue 217

One adjective suffix is usually enough:

correct: geographic
incorrect: geographical

correct: ironic
incorrect: ironical

correct: emotional
incorrect: emotionalistic

The exceptions are additional suffixes that cause a shift in meaning:

historic—having special significance
historical—occurring in the past

simple—plain, easy
simplistic—overly simple

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November 15, 2007: Issue 213

When you’re dealing with measurements, where you place the word square makes a big difference.

A 144-square-foot terrace has a total area of 144 square feet. It can be 12×12 feet, 9×16 feet, or any configuration where its width times its depth equals 144. That’s room for a nice dinner party.

A 144-foot-square terrace, on the other hand, is 144 feet on each side. That’s 20,736 square feet—room for a nice dinner theater.

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