october 2010

WESTNEWSLETTER OFCOAST THE BC BRANCH OF THE EDITORS ASSOCIATIONEDITOR OF CANADA ’

DAMN YOU, ENGLISH LANGUAGE! PART II EAC-BC is a proud supporter of the serial comma WEST COAST EDITOR Hands off! October 2010 “‘You split an infinitive onThe Nine O’Clock News.’ West Coast Editor is the newsletter of “‘I was under fire at the time.’”† the Editors’ Association of Canada, BC Branch (EAC-BC). It is published eight times a year. Views expressed in these —Exchange between John Simpson (BBC News world affairs editor) and pages do not necessarily reflect those Arthur Sale (Simpson’s English tutor when he was a student at Cambridge). of EAC or EAC-BC. Send questions Simpson was visiting his former tutor after returning from a tour of duty in or comments about the newsletter to Afghanistan. [email protected].

PUBLISHER AND MAILING ADDRESS EAC-BC Bentall Centre Post Office, Box 1688 elcome to “Damn you, English language! Part II.” This month, we are Vancouver, BC pleased to feature articles by Arlene Prunkl (“#$%&*!$ those bloody V6C 2P7 expletives!” pages 6–7), Lorraine Meltzer (“A little more Austen, a little www.editors.ca/bc W less Strunk & White,” pages 8–9), and Jennifer Getsinger (“The geologist’s plea: BRANCH COORDINATOR use the right time and place words, please!” pages 10–12). Miro Kinch: [email protected] We are also pleased to present the second of our two-part “Hands off my language!” WEBMASTER feature (pages 13–28). As we mentioned in last month’s issue, we spent the summer Margot Senchyna: doing research for the “Hands off!” feature, happy to have an excuse to wallow in a [email protected] sea of conflicting opinions about the state of the English language. So, if you want BC BRANCH EXECUTIVE 2010–2011 to learn who feels that “The Internet is destroying our brains” and who feels that Chair Hugh Macdonald: our brains are coping very well, thank you very much, turn to page 14. And to learn [email protected] who thinks that “The English language is going to hell,” turn to page 23. Past Chair Karen Reppin: [email protected] One final note. We are still looking for someone to fill the role of BC branch social BC National Rep Theresa Best: chair (time committment: 2–3 hours a month). To learn more, please see the “Call [email protected] for Volunteer” listing on page 30 or contact branch Hotline Chair Tina Robinson: [email protected] coordinator Miro Kinch at [email protected]. Member Services Chair Marlene MacIsaac: [email protected] Happy reading!

Professional Development Co-chairs Holly Munn, Tina Robinson: [email protected]

Programs Co-chairs Michele Satanove, Margot Senchyna: [email protected]

Public Relations Chair Jessica Klassen: [email protected]

Secretary David Harrison: † “People by Andrew [email protected] Pierce,” Andrew Pierce, The Social Chair: (position vacant) Times, December 12, 2003, [email protected] www.timesonline.co.uk/tol /news/uk/article1041240.ece, Treasurer: Barbara Dominik accessed September 20, 2010; [email protected] Extracts from the Red Notebooks, West Coast Editor Co-chairs Matthew Engel, 2007 Cheryl Hannah, Hugh Macdonald: [email protected] A WCE staffer does research for “Hands off my language!”

2 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 Contributors Contents

Jennifer Getsinger (“The geologist’s plea: use the right time and place 04 Curios words, please!” pages 10–12) is a The “non word” quiz writer, editor, and geologist. She loves dark chocolate and metamorphic 05 Curios pet rocks, and she cherishes the A “non word” becomes a word companionship of Kitty (a.k.a. Oxford English Dictionary will not be printed again “Raccoon-Slasher”) while she writes poetry and edits scientifi c journals. “Correct English” leads to violence Earlier this year, Jennifer pulled together a manuscript of 66 of her 06 #$%&*!$ those bloody expletives! by Arlene Prunkl best poems to enter into the First Book competition sponsored by The Writer’s 08 A little more Austen, a little less Strunk & White, by Lorraine Meltzer Studio at Simon Fraser University. 10 The geologist’s plea: use the right time and place words, please! by Miro Kinch (“Creating and Editing Jennifer Getsinger Social Content” event review, page 30), is a writer and editor, 13 Hands off my language! working in both print and electronic The Internet is destroying our brains: media. She has written, edited, and produced publications for a variety agree; disagree; how to fi x your brain; fi nal thoughts of organizations, including the The English Language is going to hell: Canadian Social Services Employers’ agree; disagree; fi nal thoughts Association, the Faculties of Graduate Sources Studies and Medicine at UBC, and the Vancouver Writers and Readers 29 Etcetera Festival.

Lorraine Meltzer (“A little more Austen, a little less Strunk & White,” pages 8–9) is a retired teacher of English and creative writing, an editor both formally and informally, and an avid reader. She is a member of the Alpha Connection book club and the Vancouver branch of the Jane Austen Society, as well as other interest groups. She can’t avoid editing, even if she wants to; errors just seem to jump out at her! Her dearest wish is to see literacy as a practice, not just as a slogan.

Arlene Prunkl (“#$%&*!$ those bloody expletives!” pages 6–7) is a Kelowna- based freelance editor of fi ction and EDITORIAL AND DESIGN STAFF FOR THIS ISSUE nonfi ction. She enjoys few things more EDITOR AND HOUSE WRITER: Cheryl Hannah, [email protected] than ferreting out wordiness in all its COPY EDITORS: Jessica Klassen, Eva van Emden guises. PROOFREADERS: Christine Dudgeon, Eva van Emden EXECUTIVE CONTRIBUTORS: Holly Munn, Michele Satanove, Margot Senchyna DESIGNER AND PHOTOGRAPHER: Cheryl Hannah COVER: “The book plough #2” by Cheryl Hannah, August 2010

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 3 “Try not to have a good time … This is supposed to be educational.” QUOTES & CURIOSITIES Source: Lucy Van Pelt, from the Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schulz, www.allgreatquotes.com WCE /charles_schultz_quotes3.shtml, accessed September 20, 2010

Defi nitions “Non word” quiz 1. Being able to drive and refold a road map at the same time. We have a not-so-secret fondness for two things at WCE: 2. Your big toe. obscure vocabulary and quizzes. So, we felt a tiny frisson of 3. A pointless chat. elation when we learned that the Oxford University Press 4. A look that could kill, normally from a parent keeps locked away—in a vault, or spouse. if rumours are true—stacks of “non words” that have been submitted to the press but not 5. A waiter whose sole job is to offer diners deemed suitable for publication ground pepper, usually from a large pepper in the Oxford English mill. Dictionary. Some of these

“non words” have languished in 6. The dance two passing people do when they the vault for hundreds of years. try to avoid each other but move in the same direction. Why are some words not deemed worthy of publication? 7. The language spoken by children on long Because a new word will not trips. be included in the dictionary until it “catches on.” To make 8. Surfi ng the Internet at work. the cut, there must be “several independent examples of

the word in writing over a 9. The use of hidden buttons on a website to ‘reasonable’ length of time.”† trick users into performing actions they do not intend, such as revealing personal information To the right, 10 defi nitions. or switching on webcams. At the bottom, 10 words. The answers (and a complete list of 110. Fabulous. sources) are on page 31.

† “Oxford dictionary shuns not so ‘faboosh’ words,” Reuters, Words August 14, 2010, The Gazette, www.montrealgazette.com/news Accordionated Nonversation Polkadodge /Oxford+dictionary+shuns+faboosh Clickjacking Optotoxical Whinese +words/3399449/story.html, accessed Faboosh Peppier Wurfi ng September 20, 2010 Fumb

4 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 “Demobilized and unemployed [in the aftermath of World War I, J.R.R. Tolkien] was given a job working on the defi nition of ‘W’ words likewaggle , wake-wort and wampum WCE QUOTES & CURIOSITIES for the still unfi nished Oxford English Dictionary.” Source: Globish, Robert McCrum, 2010

A “non word” becomes a word

As you’ve just learned (if you’ve taken 1979 book Weasel Words, regarding Edward VII’s coronation had the vocabulary quiz on page 4), editors the word “appendicitis”: to be postponed because of the at the Oxford University Press will removal of his appendix. make the decision to include a word in ‘Appendicitis’ was left out of the Oxford English Dictionary only if the OED, because the Regius Source: “Oxford dictionary shuns not so ‘faboosh’ words,” Reuters, it has generated “several independent Professor of Medicine at Oxford August 14, 2010, The Gazette, examples of the word in writing over a vehemently advised James www.montrealgazette.com/news/Oxford ‘reasonable’ length of time.” Murray that it was crack-jaw +dictionary+shuns+faboosh+words/399449 medical jargon that would not /story.html, accessed September 20, 2010 Here’s an example of the policy in last. The word was universally action, taken from Philip Howard’s adopted eleven years later, when

Oxford English Dictionary will not be printed again Fans of print were dealt a blow curios when they learned that the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary will probably never be printed: it will only appear online.

According to Nigel Portwood, chief executive of Oxford University “Correct English” leads to violence Press: “the print dictionary market is just disappearing, [sic] it is Did you hear about the English professor who was thrown out of a Manhattan falling away by tens of per cent Starbucks? Apparently, the hullabaloo was started by a dispute about “correct a year.” When asked if the third English.” edition—which has been the work of 80 lexicographers over the past Here’s the scuttlebutt. After ordering a multigrain bagel, the English professor 21 years—would ever be printed, “became enraged when the barista” asked her: “Do you want butter or cheese?” The he replied: “I don’t think so.” professor was not amused. “I refused to say ‘without butter or cheese.’ When you go to Burger King, you don’t have to list the six things you don’t want. Linguistically, Source: “Oxford English Dictionary it’s stupid, and I’m a stickler for correct English.” will not be printed again,” Paul Biba, Teleread, August 29, 2010, The barista was not amused. When the English professor “refused to answer” the www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books barista reportedly told her: “You’re not going to get anything unless you say butter or /booknews/7970391/Oxford-English cheese!” And then the police were called … -Dictionary-will-not-be-printed- again.html, accessed September 19, 2010 Source: “Good grammar leads to violence at Starbucks?” Dennis Baron, The Web of Language, August 16, 2010, http://illinois.edu/db/view/25/31898?count=1&ACTION =DIALOG, accessed September 19, 2010

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 5 feature rant

#$%&*!$ those bloody expletives!

by Arlene Prunkl

Does an editor exist who doesn’t have a few pet peeves about the English language? I sometimes loftily like to think mine are better described as a passion for educating writers on how to improve at their craft. But truthfully, they’re just quirks that annoy me. In this article I’ll focus on just one: a certain type of expletive.

Most people, if they think about expletives at all, probably think these are curse words. That’s correct, but incomplete, and I’m guessing that some readers will know that the definition of an expletive is much broader, but may not know exactly why.

The word “expletive” derives from the Latin “to fill out.” In adverbial intensifiers, like the word “bloody” in the title of fact, an expletive is any syllable, word, or word phrase that this article. These words can easily be replaced with other, is either unnecessary to the correct syntactic structure of a less offensive adjectives, depending on the style, subject sentence but can help to “fill it out,” or has no value except to matter, and audience. perform a syntactic function in a sentence.

Four kinds of expletives can be defined: Syntactic expletives as verbs and nouns Syntactic expletives acting as verbs or nouns are necessary 1. interjections: curse words or profanity for the syntactic structure of the sentence, although they can also be easily replaced with other, less offensive words if 2. expletive attributives (profanity) necessary. The usage of “#$%&*!$” in my title is a typical example of an expletive as a verb, where I could easily 3. syntactic expletives (profanity) as verbs and nouns substitute the verbs “curse” or “screw” or “banish.”

4. syntactic expletives as subjects. Syntactic expletives as subjects But here I want to focus on the fourth kind of expletive— Interjections and expletive attributives syntactic expletives as subjects—my real pet peeve. It The first kind of expletive—interjections—is self- falls under the general category of wordiness, one of the explanatory: interjections are filler words. Most of us know biggest problems I encounter in stylistic and copy editing. that an interjection can be eliminated from a group of words I’m always cutting unnecessary words, recasting sentences in while keeping the syntactic structure intact. Expletive such a way as to use the fewest words to obtain the greatest attributives are equally self-explanatory. They can also impact. Sometimes this is called vigorous or robust writing be eliminated without spoiling the syntactic structure of (as opposed to flabby writing), and it’s not that difficult to the sentence, but they perform the function of adjectival or achieve.

6 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 The great offenders of this kind of expletive are the words “there” and “it” when used as subjects followed by a verb form; e.g., there are, there is, there was, there has been, there were, it is, it was, and it has been. These words perform a syntactic function but often do little else except weaken the sentence. Yet often, an easy fix exists. (A rule of thumb is that if an easy fix doesn’t quickly come to mind, the construction can remain as is.)

Some examples of syntactic expletives being used as subjects, followed by their more robust fixes:

Weaker More robust There is a full moon shimmering in the evening sky. A full moon shimmers in the evening sky. There is an easy fix for this problem. An easy fix exists for this problem. There are many exceptions. Exceptions are many. It has been a memorable day. The day has been memorable.

Constructions that force a related expletive, the word “that” (or “who”), are even weaker. “There is … that …” and similar constructions serve only to sabotage sentences and contribute to flabby writing:

Weaker More robust There is something in her character that worries me. Something in her character worries me. It is an indisputable fact that Canadians are a Canadians are indisputably a polite bunch. polite bunch. He was a person who was quick to empathize He was quick to empathize with others. with others. There has been a recent spate of brilliant writing that The recent spate of brilliant writing can surely can surely be attributed to editorial excellence. be attributed to editorial excellence.

Interestingly, an expletive form is commonly used to describe the weather, as in “It is raining today.” An argument can be made that “it” in this case is a pronoun for “the weather” (even though the word “weather” has not been mentioned). In these cases, “it” is sometimes referred to as “the weather it.”

Exceptions are many, particularly in poetry or stylized prose where expletives are used to “fill out” the meter, or for emphasis:

“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” (Hamlet, Shakespeare, c. 1602)

It is he who deserves to be rewarded, not his father.

You may have noticed by now that I’ve easily avoided using any subject expletives in this article. In my initial draft, I had at least four, but revisions were easy. Yet the point isn’t to avoid subject expletives altogether, but to become aware of them so that, if an easy fix quickly comes to mind, you can recast the wordier, weaker construction to a more concise, vigorous one.

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 7 feature rant a little more austen, a little less Strunk & White by Lorraine Meltzer

I’m old fashioned. I’m proud to admit it. I also admit to a better writer is by osmosis, absorbing the cadences and feeling a little bit adrift in our 21st century sea of 140- nuances of good writing by reading books that actually character tweets and quasi-illiterate Facebook postings. showcase it.

I’m also—it will probably come as no surprise—a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America and have a Study the classics predisposition to rich, complex, scene-setting prose. I love to The 21st century writer can also profit by studying the classics revel in the nuances of language, language that says more to of English literature. Here are a few novels that I would me, for instance, than Hemingway’s modern, sparse prose. I recommend to any writer who wants to learn from authors curse the Messieurs Strunk and White with their commands who create magic with their words. to strip language of all but its bare essentials. I dream of the day when writers, editors, and literary agents defiantly throw Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. This is not a candy- down their copies of The Elements of Style and rush to the coated romance as portrayed in films. Aside from having bookstore (virtual or bricks and mortar—I care not which) to one of the best opening sentences ever written—“It is a truth order anything written in a style that celebrates language, not universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of shaves all life from it. a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”—this novel uses irony so subtly that it will be missed if the reader does not pay But until that happens, I’m content to wait, encouraging my close attention. Austen’s portrayal of hypocrisy is as relevant writers to inject a little more Austen and a little less Strunk in the 21st century as it was in the 19th century. and White into their writing. But how can the 21st century writer—raised on a diet of books like Elements and web- A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. This novel usability newsletters like Alertbox—possibly join me in my combines social commentary, psychology, history, romance, quest? What can she do to prepare herself to add just a little and drama. Although Dickens uses deus ex machina, a bit more breadth, thoughtfulness, and … deliberation … to strategy every writer should avoid, his portrayal of the French her writing? Revolution makes it a personal experience for every reader.

Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. This novel shows Read real books on actual paper that good writing does not have to follow rules. Vonnegut One thing the 21st century writer can do is start reading, plays with time sequence and reality, forcing the reader to preferably anything written before the advent of the digital continually adjust her perceptions. era. Then read some more: real books, real newspapers, real periodicals. (By read, I mean real ink on real paper: I don’t The Diviners by Margaret Laurence. This should be required mean e-ink on a digital device. And I mean read, not scan; reading for every Canadian—new and established—to the entire book, not the synopsis.) The best way to become understand the geography, history, and psyche of our country.

8 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 Laurence’s sweeping images bring telling details into sharp Final thoughts focus, creating “shimmers of verbal energy.”1 Now, Gentle Reader, I know that you’re probably asking yourself if you really want to work with a writer who The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Actually, anything indulges herself in complex narrative, revels in nuance, and in Tolkien’s Middle Earth series should be part of the 21st experiments with complex sentence structures. But, with century writer’s reading list. The reader is immersed in a respect, I believe that you’re not asking the proper question. fully-actualized world created by Tolkien’s words. A writer Consider: would you rather work with a writer who aims too who can do this is one who will influence readers and writers high and misses or with a writer who doesn’t even bother to for generations to come. try?

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry. Mistry grabs the reader by the lapels, sits her down, and says, “Listen to this story.” [ Notes ] When the story ends, the reader is exhausted and exhilarated 1. Necessary distance: essays and criticism, Clarence Major, 2001. but wants more. A writer who does this is a master. I fi rst read about shimmers of verbal energy in this book. The actual quotation reads: “Still others enjoyed the short story on a purely Anything by William Shakespeare. In between reading, aesthetic level, as an artful play of language, a shimmer of verbal reading, and reading some more, take every opportunity to see energy made visible.” 2. The New Lifetime Reading Plan, 4th ed., Clifton Fadiman, 1999 Shakespeare’s plays performed. His creative use of language 3. Harrap’s Dictionary of English Idioms, John O.E. Clark, 1990 (having created words and phrases we still use) and his 4. William Shakespeare, as quoted at www.phrases.org.uk/meanings portrayal of our humanity truly make him, in my estimation, /phrases-sayings-shakespeare.html, accessed August 24, 2010 the greatest writer in the English language. 5. Weird Canadian Words, Edrick Thay, 2004 6. Language Logic, Robyn Matthew, 2007 Reading great literature that enhances language, not just uses it as a tool, is a necessity for readers and writers, because “when you read a classic you do not see in the book more than you did before. You see in you more than there was before.”2

Do good writers use idioms? While I can’t advocate using idioms— IDIOMS COINED BY OR USED BY What is an idiom, anyway? they’re not original, and using them SHAKESPEARE: One of the greatest MY FAVOURITE DEFINITION: Robyn won’t transform the 21st century writer sources of modern idioms is Matthew, an author and publisher into a modern day incarnation of Jane Shakespeare. Here are a few of my specializing in language, classifi es Austen—a dictionary of idioms such favourites: a foregone conclusion, cold idioms as a category of “prefabricated as Harrap’s Dictionary of English comfort, foul play, fair play, vanish language” which “encapsulate a world Idioms makes for interesting reading. into thin air, play fast and loose, being of meanings in a quick phrase.” The simple act of leafi ng through this eaten out of house and home, heart of dictionary can open up the writer to a gold, the be-all and end-all.4 They are “generally fi gurative or world of alternative phrasings, giving metaphorical expressions whose her a glimpse into the eras when CANADIAN IDIOMS: Most Canadian meaning can’t be guessed” if broken these idioms were coined. readers will recognize and down syntactically, such as pull up understand these idioms immediately. your socks.6 Regardless, I appreciate the International readers may not. metaphorical sense of these idioms: Regardless, I love these totally make good time, out of the question, Canadian terms: baby bonus, blue in vain, beat around the bush, waste nose, First Nations, hat trick, sugar my breath, crack a book, in the worst shack, go outside [leave the North], way, fringe benefi .t 3 from away [not from the Maritimes].5

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 9 feature rant

the geologist’s plea: use the right time and place words, please!

by Jennifer S. Getsinger

Notwithstanding the insistence of physicists and/or theologians (or Unitarian ministers who happen to be both) that the space–time continuum exists in its totality—“wert, and art, and evermore shalt “Wert, and art, and evermore be”—and that the universe is made up of stories (In the beginning was the Word, John 1:1), my shalt be” is an excerpt scientific training leads me to assert that it remains best practice to distinguishtime from place for from “Bring, O Morn, Thy all practical, geological, and editorial considerations in the current physical reality (living on planet Music,” a Unitarian variant Earth in 2010). As much as I embrace the wonderful human concept of stories creating the universe of “Holy, Holy, Holy.” or making up Earth history, the Earth itself is composed of matter: elemental atoms arranged as solids, liquids, and gases—lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere—or more familiarly, rocks, water, and air.

The Perseid meteor shower Everyone knows it’s important to be in the right place at the right time for special events. For took place on August 12 this instance, in order to see the Perseid meteor shower, one has to be on the side of planet Earth year, at exactly the time I facing away from the sun in the position of its orbit that we call mid-August (and it helps if the was at my desk, working on hydrosphere is not clouding up). This is a place in space, and only becomes a time because we this article. Just an example humans superimpose an abstract calendar on the Earth’s orbit to keep track of when Earth will arrive of how you can’t see in a particular orbit position. We assume that Earth’s planetary patterns are cyclical based on past meteors if you’re not in the experience. right place at the right time. But human physical experience tends to be linear and non-repetitive (birth, growth, maturity, reproduction, aging, death). This is an example of “time’s arrow.” Geological time, from the origin To understand more about of the universe to the origin of the Earth, to the creation of life, through evolution and plate tectonic linear time and cyclical time, movement to our present configuration of landscape and life on Earth, is another example of time’s read Stephen Jay Gould’s arrow. It has only been understood as non-cyclical in the past few hundred years, and the technology Time’s Arrow, Time’s Cycle. to measure those vast eons of time has only be around since the mid-20th century.

The English language is full of time words and place words, and they should be used accordingly, “Place” words can be in spite of sloppiness in common parlance. Place words are meant to be associated with concrete assigned GPS coordinates. locations, and time words refer to more abstract narratives of what happened when. Place words are “Time” words can be put on for real things that can be assigned GPS coordinates; time words are for events that can be put on a a calendar. calendar. This is especially true in the description of geological features as they are observed now in contrast to interpretations about what happened in the past.

Describing rocks: use the right tense In describing rocks, one uses the present tense, because of their long-term stability relative to a human life span. For instance:

10 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 Use the present tense to The Stawamus Chief, located near Squamish, BC, is composed of granodiorite consisting describe rocks as they are of the minerals quartz, both plagioclase and potassium feldspar, biotite, and hornblende, now (i.e., a concrete thing with accessory minerals zircon, sphene, and apatite, and in some places veined with we can see now). epidote.

For the geological history of the Chief, we would use the past tense:

Use the past tense to The Chief formed as a batholith (large igneous plutonic intrusion) during the Cretaceous describe events in geological period, and crystallized about 100 million years ago. history (i.e., abstract stories we infer from the past). So, for the thing, we use place words in the present tense; for the story, we use time words in the past tense.

Some geologists get their place words and their time words mixed up and write sentences like this:

The Squamish granodiorite consists of two feldspars, quartz, and mafic minerals, and occasional accessories, and is infrequently veined with epidote.

Words of wisdom from my Several errors occur here. An elder German geology professor of mine at the University of former German geology Washington—if he had seen this sentence—would have launched into a tirade: “‘Occasional professor, Dr. Peter Misch. accessories!’ You mean every now and then the rock wears a different handbag? ‘Infrequently He was a stickler for veined with epidote’—you mean every third Tuesday?” Then he would have demanded that we do grammar. two things: first, rewrite this sentence using place words instead of time words (e.g., “The Squamish granodiorite consists of two feldspars, quartz, mafic minerals, andsparse accessories, and is in a few places veined with epidote.”); second, be specific (e.g., if the sentence involved the geologist, it could say, “One finds samples of epidote occasionally while hiking the Chief.”) He would have also discouraged us from involving the human in geological description, and from using human emotional or value judgment words for rocks—violent, harsh, good, bad, etc.—but that’s another discussion.

Place words and time words Place words Time words Place words Time words that geologists make a point where when below or above before or after of distinguishing in usage. here now eonothem eon Remember: place words are there then erathem era more “concrete” than time whereas while system period words. in some places occasionally series epoch sparse rarely stage age common frequently upper late Examples: at the starting line in the beginning middle middle Wrong: “… dinosaurs lived strata (layers) millions of years lower early somewhere between 65 and relative dating absolute dating chronostratigraphy geochronology 250 million years ago.” Right: “… dinosaurs lived at some time between 250 and The geological time scale: geology’s most significant contribution to scientific understanding 65 million years ago.” The distinction between place and time in geology is nowhere more important than on the geological time scale and in the study of stratigraphy, which led to this significant contribution to scientific Wrong: “… somewhere in understanding. In discussing geological time, the oldest is always mentioned first, and in a map key, her 30s.” Right: “… in her the oldest is placed on the bottom. 30s” or “… aged between 30 and 40.” A basic tenet (not tenant!) of stratigraphy is the law of superposition, also known as “William Smith’s First Law”: the layer on the bottom of an undisturbed pile was there first, and is therefore the oldest. Those of us who have not disturbed the piles of paper on our desks in eons have a

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 11 Stratigraphy is the study of good example of this: we would find the trilobites in the lower section (last winter’s to-do list), Earth’s sedimentary rock the dinosaurs in the middle (a spring cleaning list), and the mammals near the top in the upper layers and the order of section (the paper we were supposed to edit last week). I used “eons” here as hyperbole for months: geological events as deduced geologically it refers to time spans in the range of billions of years; “eras” are measured in hundreds from the arrangement of of millions of years; “periods” in tens of millions of years; and “epochs” in smaller divisions of these layers and their field time. (Eras and epochs are defined differently in writing about human history.) These classifications relationships with other were derived by many geologists observing what layers and fossil assemblages were on the bottom rocks. and what rocks were on top. The geological periods were defined by groups of fossils called “systems” in an established relative order of layers. The words used for the placing of strata are in the Place column of the table, and the corresponding time words are in the Time column. To learn more about William Trilobite fossils occur only in the layers associated with the Smith and the birth of Paleozoic erathem, deposited during a time we call the Paleozoic modern geology, read Simon era; dinosaurs in Mesozoic layers (note that one can avoid having Winchester’s The Map That to make a time vs. place distinction with clever placement of MS Word Clipart, 2002 Changed the World. adjectives); and mammals in the Cenozoic.

The duration in absolute time (linear or arrow time) measured in To learn more about years or millions of years, is estimated with radiometric dating radiometric or isotopic methods (uranium–lead zircon dating; potassium–argon dating; dating methods, go to Rb–Sr or Ar–Ar dating; Carbon 14; etc.), using different isotopes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki for different time ranges, or dendrochronology for the most William Smith’s First Law: “the layer on the /Radiometric_dating. recent time ranges. Radiometric dating is most useful in rocks bottom of an undisturbed pile was there that can preserve isotopes during crystallization, so igneous first, and is therefore the oldest.” Dendrochronology = rocks (granite or basalt) are used if their physical relationship to tree-ring dating. the fossiliferous strata can be determined by stratigraphic field methods (this requires going to a place where the rocks are exposed and making observations, and then interpreting which unit came first).

To download the geological So, the dates on the geological time scale are provided by different types of rock rather than the time scale (published by the names of the units. For instance, observations of certain dinosaurs and ammonites in particular rock International Commission layers led to the definition of the Cretaceous system, which remains relatively stable as a package on Stratigraphy), go to of strata, while the calendar age of the Cretaceous period, recently shown to have lasted from 142 www.stratigraphy.org +/- 3 Ma to 65.0 +/- 0.05 Ma (M=mega, a=annum, or millions of years), changes with new data /upload/ISChart2009.pdf. as scientists continue to learn more about radioactive decay of isotopes. In some books you’ll see the end of the Cretaceous quoted variously as 66 or 65 or 67 million years ago, but they are Earth’s birthday, as talking about the same place. The rock layers below the boundary contain fossils of dinosaurs and calculated by Archbishop ammonites; the layers above the boundary do not. That transition is known as the end-Cretaceous Ussher in the 17th century: extinction, and many hypotheses and theories have been put forward for the causes. The ideas might October 23, 4004 BC (the change, but the rocks still show the same characteristics at the different levels. autumnal equinox of that year). To learn more, go to This is correlative with the difference between concrete things and abstract concepts, or in science, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki the observations versus the interpretation. In common speech, people blur this distinction, but in /Ussher_chronology. geology and geological editing we make a rigorous attempt to separate the data from the deduction, the rocks from the story. (In mystery novels, the detective makes a similar distinction between facts and suppositions, settling on the most likely conclusion only after all the available evidence has been weighed.)

So, even though for watching meteor showers, place and time mean pretty much the same thing— that is, a particular segment of the Earth’s orbit—for the most practical purposes, it is useful to distinguish between time and place. For geologists and editors, this distinction is one more method of clarification in accurate writing.

12 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 hands offMY LANGUAGE!

Welcome to Part II of “Hands off What follows is a selection of my language!” opinions from language pundits about the impact the Internet is As we mentioned in last month’s having on our brains (hint: most issue, WCE staffers spent the pundits are feeling decidedly glum). summer sifting through piles of Also included: wildly divergent paper, shelves of books, and stacks opinions about the state of the of files to learn how the Internet English language. (as proxy for all things digital) is impacting not only the English Brace yourself. It’s going to be a language, but the very way we think. rocky read.

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 13 The Internet is as you can’t talk to yourself about two destroying things at once,’ he says … our brains “… In addition, the brain needs rest and recovery time to consolidate thoughts and memories. Teenagers who fill every [ agree ] Excerpts reflect the grammar, style, and punctuation of quiet moment with a phone call or source materials. Sources on page 27. some kind of e-stimulation may not be getting that needed reprieve. Habitual multitasking may condition their brain “‘Turn off your computer. You’re to an overexcited state, making it actually going to have to turn off your difficult to focus even when they want to. ‘People lose the skill and the will phone and discover all that is human to maintain concentration, and they get around us …’ mental antsyness,’ says Meyer.”

Claudia Wallis, 2006 “These words didn’t come from a

Luddite malcontent trying to hold “Many students who have cut their teeth back progress. The speaker was on relatively effortless Internet access may not yet know how to think for Eric Schmidt, the chairman and CEO themselves. Their sights are narrowed of Google, in a commencement to what they see and hear quickly and easily, and they have too little reason address delivered at the University of to think outside our newest, most Pennsylvania in the spring of 2009.” sophisticated boxes. These students are not illiterate, but they may never become true expert readers. During William Powers, 2010 the phase in their reading development when critical skills are guided, modeled, practiced, and honed, they may have not “Human beings have always had a “‘The ability to multiprocess has its been challenged to exploit the acme of capacity to attend to several things at limits, even among young adults. the fully developed, reading brain: time once. Mothers have done it since the When people try to perform two or to think for themselves.” hunter-gatherer era—picking berries more related tasks either at the same while suckling an infant, stirring the time or alternating rapidly between Maryanne Wolf, 2007 pot with one eye on the toddler. Nor is them, errors go way up, and it takes electronic multitasking entirely new: far longer—often double the time or we’ve been driving while listening to more—to get the jobs done than if “Internet addiction appears to be a car radios since they became popular they were done sequentially,’ says common disorder that merits inclusion in the 1930s. But there is no doubt that David E. Meyer, director of the Brain, in DSM-V [Diagnostic and Statistical the phenomenon has reached a kind of Cognition and Action Laboratory at Manual of Mental Disorders]. warp speed in the era of Web-enabled the University of Michigan: ‘The toll Conceptually, the diagnosis is a computers, when it has become routine in terms of slowdown is extremely compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder to conduct six IM conversations, watch large—amazingly so.’ Meyer frequently that involves online and/or offline American Idol on TV and Google the tests Gen M students in his lab, and computer usage and consists of at least names of last season’s finalists all at he sees no exception for them, despite three subtypes: excessive gaming, once. their ‘mystique’ as master multitaskers. sexual preoccupations, and e-mail/text ‘The bottom line is that you can’t messaging. All of the variants share the … simultaneously be thinking about your following four components: 1) excessive tax return and reading an essay, just use, often associated with a loss of

14 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 sense of time or a neglect of basic checking of e-mail and text messages have on a worker’s ability to perform drives, 2) withdrawal, including feelings temporarily lowers a person’s IQ by up serious mental tasks, such as writing of anger, tension, and/or depression to ten points—more than twice as much reports or computer code. They when the computer is inaccessible, 3) as smoking marijuana … found that responding to an email tolerance, including the need for better or instant message slowed workers computer equipment, more software, “… Technology frees us to tailor our down considerably: on average each or more hours of use, and 4) negative reading and viewing habits, as well as needed around fifteen minutes after the repercussions, including arguments, our listening ones, to our own taste. interruption before settling back into lying, poor achievement, social And the result? ‘Atomization by little productive work. The initial distraction isolation, and fatigue. white boxes and cell phones,’ says often snowballed as the workers replied the author and commentator Andrew to other messages or browsed websites.” “Some of the most interesting research Sullivan. ‘Society without the social on Internet addiction has been published … Human beings have never lived like Daniel Tammet, 2009 in South Korea. After a series of 10 this before. Yes, we have always had cardiopulmonary-related deaths in homes, retreats or places where we went Internet cafés and a game-related to relax, unwind or shut out the world. “Our brains are set up to do two things murder, South Korea considers Internet But we didn’t walk around the world at once, but not three, a French team addiction one of its most serious public like hermit crabs with our isolation reports in the journal Science. health issues … surgically attached.’” “The researchers reached that … Mark Abley, 2008 conclusion after studying an area of the brain involved in goals and rewards. “China is also greatly concerned about Their experiment tested people’s the disorder. At a recent conference, “One of the most common negative abilities to accomplish up to three Tao Ran, Ph.D., Director of Addiction side effects of information overload mental tasks at the same time. The tasks Medicine at Beijing Military Region is distraction, which costs people and involved matching letters in different Central Hospital, reported 13.7% of companies time and efficiency. Eric ways, and for incentive, participants Chinese adolescent Internet users Horvitz, a research scientist, and his were paid up to a euro for doing a task meet Internet addiction diagnostic coresearcher Shamsi Iqbal carried perfectly. criteria—about 10 million teenagers. As out a study to evaluate the effect that a result, in 2007 China began restricting distractions like email or web surfing computer game use; current laws now discourage more than 3 hours of daily game use.”

Jerald J. Block, 2008

“Already we’re paying a heavy price for our advances into cyberspace. Linda Stone, a former vice president of Microsoft, has called our age one of ‘continuous partial attention,’ “It was reported that the engineer saying: ‘We’re so accessible, we’re in the fatal Los Angeles commuter- inaccessible. We can’t find the off switch on our devices or on ourselves train crash [in autumn 2008] was … We are everywhere—except where texting seconds before the accident we actually are physically.’ This continuous partial attention is doing occurred.” nothing for our intelligence levels. A study commissioned by Hewlett- Packard in 2005 found that the constant Louis Menand, 2008

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 15 “‘When volunteers were doing just one “‘I stood up from my desk and said, “Oh “We want children to possess the task, there was activity in goal-oriented my God, oh my God, oh my God,”’ Mr. capacity to concentrate on, critically areas of both frontal lobes,’ says Etienne Campbell said. ‘It’s kind of hard to miss analyze and prioritize the flood of Koechlin, a professor at the Ecole an e-mail like that, but I did.’ information they are getting daily. My Normale Superieure in Paris. ‘That worry is that children are becoming suggested that the two sides of the brain … wonderfully engaged with the were working together to get the job superficial levels of information but done,’ he says. “This is your brain on computers. unaware of the need to probe and think Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone for themselves. In Nick Carr’s terms, “But when people took on a second task, calls and other incoming information we may all be taking on characteristics the lobes divided their responsibilities. can change how people think and of the tool, rather than using the tool to ‘Each frontal lobe was pursuing its own behave. They say our ability to focus expand our own thoughts. goal,’ Koechlin says. is being undermined by bursts of information. These play to a primitive “[Q:] Is this the first time we’ve faced “The lobe on the left side of the brain impulse to respond to immediate such a drastic change in how we obtain focused on the first task, while the lobe opportunities and threats. The information? on the right focused on the second. stimulation provokes excitement—a When the researchers offered a greater dopamine squirt—that researchers say “Pascal said that there’s nothing new reward for a task being supervised can be addictive. In its absence, people on this earth. Within that context there by one side of the brain, the amount feel bored. The resulting distractions was a similar kind of cultural transition of activity on that side increased can have deadly consequences, as from the oral culture of the Greeks and accordingly. when cellphone-wielding drivers and to a literate culture. Socrates protested train engineers cause wrecks. And for such a move and more or less said, ‘Oh “But the brain has only two frontal millions of people like Mr. Campbell, no, we can’t learn to read, we’ll lose all lobes, suggesting there might be a limit these urges can inflict nicks and cuts on this quality of thought, this quality of to the number of goals and rewards it creativity and deep thought, interrupting memory, this approach to memory.’ He can handle. So the team decided to do work and family life. said that the most dangerous aspect of another experiment. reading is that its very concreteness—its “While many people say multitasking seeming impermeability—would delude “They offered people rewards to do makes them more productive, research our youth into thinking they understood three things at once. shows otherwise. Heavy multitaskers something before they had even begun actually have more trouble focusing to understand. Similar arguments could “‘And when people started a third task, and shutting out irrelevant information, be made for our youth today who think one of the original goals disappeared scientists say, and they experience more that after they google something they from their brains,’ Koechlin says. Also stress. And scientists are discovering ‘know all about it.’” people slowed down and made many that even after the multitasking ends, more mistakes. That suggests that our fractured thinking and lack of focus Marjorie Howard, 2010 frontal lobes ‘can’t maintain more than persist. In other words, this is also your two tasks,’ Koechlin says.” brain off computers. “Today, a counterrevolution is under Jon Hamilton, 2010 “‘The technology is rewiring our way. As the computer and cell phone brains,’ said Nora Volkow, director of become our main reading devices, the the National Institute of Drug Abuse book is being pushed to the periphery “When one of the most important e- and one of the world’s leading brain of culture. According to recent studies mail messages of his life landed in his scientists. She and other researchers by Ball State University and the federal in-box a few years ago, Kord Campbell compare the lure of digital stimulation government, the average American overlooked it. Not just for a day or two, less to that of drugs and alcohol than to spends more than eight hours a day but 12 days. He finally saw it while food and sex, which are essential but peering into a screen—TV, computer sifting through old messages: a big counterproductive in excess.” or cell phone (sometimes all three at company wanted to buy his Internet once)—but devotes just 20 minutes to start-up. Matt Richtel, 2010 reading books and other printed works.

16 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 “Reading from a screen is very different Austen, Yeats, and Joyce. My book “Over the last few years I’ve had an from reading from a book. A book on an iPad or whatever will be richer uncomfortable sense that someone, or provides a shield against distraction, in worthwhile ways, but it will be less something, has been tinkering with my allowing us to focus our entire attention absorbing and probably less emotionally brain, remapping the neural circuitry, on an author’s narrative or argument. compelling.” reprogramming the memory. My mind When text is put onto a screen, it enters isn’t going—so far as I can tell—but what the science fiction writer Cory Jan Swafford, 2010 it’s changing. I’m not thinking the way Doctorow terms an ‘ecosystem of I used to think. I feel it most strongly interruption technologies.’ The words when I’m reading. I used to find it have to compete for our attention with “Cellphones, which in the past few years easy to immerse myself in a book or links, e-mails, texts, tweets, Facebook have become full-fledged computers a lengthy article. My mind would get updates, videos, ads and all the other with high-speed Internet connections, let caught up in the twists of the narrative visual stimuli that pour through our people relieve the tedium of exercising, or the turns of the argument, and I’d computers. of the grocery-store line, of stoplights or spend hours strolling through long lulls in the dinner conversation. stretches of prose. That’s rarely the “In a very real sense, screen reading is case anymore. Now my concentration returning us to that distant time when “The technology makes the tiniest starts to drift after a page or two. I get there were no spaces between words. windows of time entertaining, and fidgety, lose the thread, begin looking Reading is again becoming a cognitively potentially productive. But scientists for something else to do. I feel like I’m strenuous job as the mind struggles to point to an unanticipated side effect: always dragging my wayward brain back keep track not only of the words but When people keep their brains busy to the text. The deep reading that used to also of all the surrounding distractions. with digital input, they are forfeiting come naturally has become a struggle. The best our overloaded brains can do is down time that could allow them to skim and scan. better learn and remember information “I think I know what’s going on. For or to come up with new ideas. well over a decade now, I’ve been … spending a lot of time online, searching “[People who listen to songs on their and surfing and sometimes adding to “The drift of computerized gadgets is iPods, email on their iPhones, and watch the great databases of the Internet. The always towards distraction. If current high-definition television, all while Web’s been a godsend to me as a writer. technological trends hold, e-book doing fast loops on elliptical machines Research that once required days in the reading will soon be accompanied by at the gym], for example, might be stacks or periodical rooms of libraries all the attention-sapping interruptions clearer-headed if [they] went for a run can now be done in minutes … common to other computing tasks … outside, away from [their] devices, research suggests. … “Publishers, for their part, are eagerly exploring ways to add links, videos … “The boons are real. But they come and even social networking functions at a price. As [Marshall] McLuhan to e-books to spur sales. Such features “‘Almost certainly, down time lets suggested, media aren’t just channels might bring the ancient book into the the brain go over experiences it’s of information. They supply the stuff of modern media age, but they also will had, solidify them and turn them into thought, but they also shape the process further remove us from the profound permanent long-term memories,’ of thought. And what the Net seems to intellectual engagement of deep said Loren Frank, assistant professor be doing is chipping away my capacity reading.” in the department of physiology at for concentration and contemplation. the [University of California, San Whether I’m online or not, my mind Nicholas Carr, 2010 Francisco] where he specializes in now expects to take in information the learning and memory. He said he way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly believed that when the brain was moving stream of particles. Once I was “[American author] Garrison Keillor constantly stimulated, ‘you prevent this a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now has said, ‘On the Internet we’re all learning process.’” I zip along the surface like a guy on a hummingbirds.’ We flit from place to Jet Ski.” place, taking a sip here and a sip there. Matt Richtel, 2010 That’s swell, but it isn’t the way to read Nicholas Carr, 2010

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 17 The Internet is The Internet may have made me a destroying less patient reader, but I think that in many ways, it has made me smarter. our brains More connections to documents, artifacts, and people means more external influences on my thinking and [ disagree ] Excerpts reflect the grammar, style, and punctuation of thus on my writing. Thus, this overly source materials. Sources on page 27. pretentious blog post is really the result of many outside influences, and is an act of what Blaise Cronin calls “[Clay Shirky, an adjunct professor distributed cognition. at New York University and keen “If the web has made me smarter, observer of all things digital] posits I’ll gladly take some of the credit. the existence of a vast cognitive Otherwise, you can blame Google.”

surplus drawn from a growing Philip Davis, 2008 global community of Internet users

whose enormous pool of free time “I personally don’t buy [Nicholas] and creative capacity can now be Carr’s ideas [that our addiction to the Internet is beginning to sap our tapped in pursuit of virtually any ability to concentrate for long periods shared goal or endeavour … Shirky of time and that the Web is beginning to rewire our brains, and not for the says the Internet is making us better]. As a journalist, I often spend smarter.” long hours daily online, but I’m still perfectly capable of immersing myself in a 50-page scientific article or a Anthony D. Williams, 2010 500-page novel, and I know I’m not alone. I think, if anything, Carr has gotten things backwards. The Net is “I’d sell my computer before I’d sell A lot smarter, and in a way that only a an astonishing boon to humanity, my children. But the kids better watch human can be smarter. gathering up and concentrating their step. When have the children information and ideas that were once helped me meet a deadline?” “And I have a feeling I’m not alone.” scattered so broadly around the world that hardly anyone could profit from James Fallows, 1982 John Battelle, 2008 them. Moreover, I strongly suspect that one reason it appeals to us so powerfully is that our brains are “When I am deep in search for “Maybe I am a moron, or the Internet already wired perfectly to use it. knowledge on the web, jumping from has made me one. In a new Atlantic link to link, reading deeply in one Monthly article entitled, ‘Is Google “There is little doubt, moreover, that moment, skimming hundreds of links Making Us Stupid?’, Nicholas Carr one of the Internet’s masterpieces— the next, when I am pulling back to tells me that I may not be alone. The Google Earth—is helping scientists formulate and reformulate queries and Internet may indeed change the way in general, and archaeologists in devouring new connections as quickly we read and process information. If particular, to answer crucial questions as Google and the Web can serve them you can make it through this article about the ancient past.” up, when I am performing bricolage (indeed, if you made it this far in my in real time over the course of hours, blog post), you may take issue with Heather Pringle, 2009 I am ‘feeling’ my brain light up, I and how Carr describes stupid, and why [sic] ‘feeling’ like I’m getting smarter. he takes particular issue with Google.

18 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 “There’s been lots of hand-wringing “I’m not ready to blame my restless “Yes, the constant arrival of about all the skills [the so-called ‘net- attention entirely on a faulty willpower. information packets can be distracting gen’ or ‘digital natives’] might lack, Some of it is pure impersonal and addictive, especially to people mainly the ability to concentrate on a behaviorism. The Internet is basically with attention deficit disorder. But complex task from beginning to end, a Skinner box engineered to tap distraction is not a new phenomenon. but surely they can already do things right into our deepest mechanisms The solution is not to bemoan their elders can’t—like conduct 34 of addiction. As B.F. Skinner’s army technology but to develop strategies conversations simultaneously across of lever-pressing rats and pigeons of self-control, as we do with every six different media, or pay attention taught us, the most irresistible reward other temptation in life. Turn off e- to switching between attentional schedule is not, counterintuitively, mail or Twitter when you work, put targets in a way that’s been considered the one in which we’re rewarded away your Blackberry at dinner time, impossible. More than any other constantly but something called ask your spouse to call you to bed at a organ, the brain is designed to change ‘variable ratio schedule,’ in which the designated hour. based on experience, a feature called rewards arrive at random. And that neuroplasticity. London taxi drivers, randomness is practically the Internet’s … for instance, have enlarged hippocampi defining feature.” (the brain region for memory and “The new media have caught on for spatial processing)—a neural reward Sam Anderson, 2009 a reason. Knowledge is increasing for paying attention to the tangle exponentially; human brainpower and of the city’s streets. As we become waking hours are not. Fortunately, the more skilled at the 21st-century task “New forms of media have always Internet and information technologies Meyer [Professor David Meyer, caused moral panics: the printing press, are helping us manage, search and director of the Brain, Cognition and newspapers, paperbacks and television retrieve our collective intellectual Action Laboratory at the University of were all once denounced as threats to output at different scales, from Twitter Michigan] calls ‘flitting,’ the wiring their consumers’ brainpower and moral and previews to e-books and online of the brain will inevitably change fiber. encyclopedias. Far from making us to deal more efficiently with more stupid, these technologies are the only information. The neuroscientist Gary “So too with electronic technologies. things that will keep us smart.” Small speculates that the human brain PowerPoint, we’re told, is reducing might be changing faster today than it discourse to bullet points. Search Steven Pinker, 2010 has since the prehistoric discovery of engines lower our intelligence, tools. Research suggests we’re already encouraging us to skim on the surface picking up new skills: better peripheral of knowledge rather than dive to vision, the ability to sift information its depths. Twitter is shrinking our rapidly. We recently elected the first- attention spans. ever BlackBerry president, able to flit between sixteen national crises … while focusing at a world-class level. Kids growing up now might have an “Critics of new media sometimes use associative genius we don’t—a sense science itself to press their case, citing of the way ten projects all dovetail research that shows how ‘experience into something totally new. They can change the brain.’ But cognitive might be able to engage in seeming neuroscientists roll their eyes at such contradictions: mindful web-surfing, talk. Yes, every time we learn a fact or mindful Twittering. Maybe, in flights skill the wiring of the brain changes; of irresponsible responsibility, they’ll it’s not as if the information is stored even manage to attain the paradoxical, in the pancreas. But the existence of Zenlike state of focused distraction.” neural plasticity does not mean the brain is a blob of clay pounded into Sam Anderson, 2009 shape by experience.

…

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 19 The Internet is life, our attention is compromised. destroying The Web was supposed to make information more manageable, but in our brains fact it displaces time and attention we might spend really savouring a good [ how to fix your brain ] read. Excerpts reflect the grammar, style, and punctuation of source materials. “Reading is connected to literacy and Sources on page 27. critical thinking, but digital technology is not the primary villain. The real problems are our weakness for speed and our attempts to attend to too many things at once. We cannot accelerate our lives indefinitely. At some point we have to slow down to get a handle “Still reading? You’re probably in a on our information. Slow reading dwindling minority. But no matter: a represents balance.

literary revolution is at hand. First “… Print enlists the hands in the act we had slow food, then slow travel. of reading, signalling the brain where to read next, and how much more Now, those campaigns are joined there is to read. Digital reading shifts by a slow-reading movement—a all the work to the eyes. Sellen and Harper (2001) observe that print is still disparate bunch of academics and the best medium for many purposes, intellectuals who want us to take our including conceptual design, editing, proofreading, sensing the flow of time while reading, and re-reading.” text, and finally as a tangible bound object: ‘Ultimately, we want a bound volume in hand—a physical product Patrick Kingsley, 2010 that testifies to our efforts and that we can hand to family, friends, and “The hard centre of print is our need author’s original sequence of thought. colleagues’.” for slow reading. Like many people, I Print persists because it is a superior value digital search for finding quick technology for integrating information John Miedema, 2009 answers and leads. Reading short of any length, complexity or richness; snippets on the Web is convenient, and it is better suited to slow reading. I consider it is wasteful to print them. “At a time when people spend much However, if the content I have found … of their time skimming websites, text is anything longer than a few pages, or messages and e-mails, an English if it has any depth, I prefer to read it “Reading on-line is quite different professor at the University of New in print. Our casual information needs from reading print. For example, it is Hampshire is making the case for are served very well by the Web, but the essence of hypertext to point the slowing down as a way to gain more our reading requirements run deeper reader away from the page being read. meaning and pleasure out of the than that. Sometimes we must slow Print does not have this distraction and written word. down and read at a reflective pace and so is better suited to slow reading. print facilitates that. Print and slowness “Thomas Newkirk isn’t the first or have a close relationship. Print is … most prominent proponent of the so- fixed; the ideas will not change during called ‘slow reading’ movement, but a reading. A book is linear and long, “Our attention can only manage so he argues it’s becoming all the more encouraging the reader to recreate the many stimuli. With the endless stream important in a culture and educational of information fed to us in modern system that often treats reading as fast

20 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 food to be gobbled up as quickly as always argued for what might be called while Keith Thomas, an Oxford historian, possible. the ‘hedonistic principle of reading:’ has written that he is bemused by junior The only reason to read books is for the colleagues who analyse sources with a “‘You see schools where reading is immense and unique pleasure of it all. search engine, instead of reading them in turned into a race, you see kids on the Reading is fun. their entirety. stopwatch to see how many words they can read in a minute,’ he said. “… Lindsay Waters, executive … ‘That tells students a story about what humanities editor at Harvard reading is. It tells students to be fast is University Press, identifies ‘a “Still reading? You’re probably in a to be good.’ worldwide reading crisis.’ dwindling minority. But no matter: a literary revolution is at hand. First we … “‘Instead of rushing by works so had slow food, then slow travel. Now, fast that we don’t even muss up those campaigns are joined by a slow- “… The movement is gaining ground: our hair, we should tarry, attend to reading movement—a disparate bunch the 2004 book In Praise of Slow: How the sensuousness of reading, allow of academics and intellectuals who want a Worldwide Movement is Changing ourselves to enter the experience of us to take our time while reading, and the Cult of Speed sprang from author words,’ Waters wrote in a 2007 article re-reading. They ask us to switch off our Carl Honore’s realization that his published by The Chronicle of Higher computers every so often and rediscover ‘rushaholism’ had gotten out of hand Education. both the joy of personal engagement with when he considered buying a collection physical texts, and the ability to process of ‘one-minute bedtime stories’ for his … them fully.” children.” “Fast reading has its place—at work, Patrick Kingsley, 2010 Holly Ramer, 2010 on the Internet (get off as soon as you can!), sometimes with newspapers and magazines. But a book deserves “Ever notice how an idea seldom your full attention, and you deserve gets traction until someone slaps it the fruits that can only ripen when you with a snappy name? Take ‘slow give it.” reading,’— formerly known as ‘immersive reading,’ ‘close reading,’ Chauncey Mabe, 2010 ‘deep reading,’ or just plain ‘reading,’ it’s been around since Gilgamesh was a boy. “If you’re reading this article in print, chances are you’ll only get through “But now, thanks to the ever hastening half of what I’ve written. And if you’re pace of modern life, it’s a movement. reading this online, you might not even finish a fifth. At least, those are … the two verdicts from a pair of recent research projects—respectively, the “In my experience [everyone] could Poynter Institute’s Eyetrack survey, benefit by slow reading. Indeed, the and analysis by Jakob Nielsen—which idea of intentionally slowing down both suggest that many of us no longer as a way to increase comprehension, have the concentration to read articles concentration and pleasure has through to their conclusion. no meaning until something has encouraged us, frog-in-the-boiling-pot “The problem doesn’t just stop there: style, to gradually speed our reading. academics report that we are becoming less attentive book-readers, too. Bath “And I want to emphasize the pleasure Spa University lecturer Greg Garrard part of this equation. As a professional recently revealed that he has had to book critic and lifelong reader, I’ve shorten his students’ reading list,

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 21 The Internet is in the soul. Instead of remembering destroying for themselves, Socrates warned, new readers were blindly trusting in ‘external our brains written characters.’ The library was ruining the mind. [ final thoughts ] Excerpts reflect the grammar, style, and punctuation of “Needless to say, the printing press source materials. Sources on page 28. only made things worse. In the 17th century, Robert Burton complained, in ‘The Anatomy of Melancholy,’ of the “At the offices of Merriam-Webster, I ‘vast chaos and confusion of books’ asked John Morse [Merriam-Webster’s that make the eyes and fingers ache. By 1890, the problem was the speed of president and publisher] about his transmission: one eminent physician company’s relationship with the forces blamed ‘the pelting of telegrams’ for triggering an outbreak of mental illness. of the Internet. Although challenging, And then came radio and television, cyber-catalyzed linguistic evolution which poisoned the mind with passive pleasure. Children, it was said, had doesn’t get under Morse’s skin. stopped reading books. Socrates would ‘Google is constantly on an information be pleased.”

provider’s radar,’ said Morse. ‘It’s like Jonah Lehrer, 2010 a giant star coming into your solar

system, bending and changing space “When the spread of the printing press time.’” popularized the reading and writing of books, it spread panic throughout Europe’s ruling classes. For the first David Wolman, 2008 time the clergy could no longer control religion, science or medicine. Nor could the monarchs dominate every aspect “I have nagging worries. Sure, I’m a “We’ve come to think of human of political life or grip the reins of a veritable genius when I’m on the grid, intelligence as being like an Intel burgeoning capitalistic economy. There but am I mentally crippled when I’m processor, able to quickly analyze data were concerns among intellectuals too not? Does an overreliance on machine and spot patterns. Maybe there’s just as … Even Edgar Allan Poe called ‘The memory shut down other important much value in the ability to marinate in enormous multiplication of books in ways of understanding the world? the seemingly trivial. every branch of knowledge one of the greatest evils of this age; since “There’s another type of intelligence “Of course, it’s probably not an either/or it presents one of the most serious that comes not from rapid-fire pattern proposition. I want both: I want my obstacles to the acquisition of correct recognition but from slowly ingesting organic brain to contain vast stores of information.’ and retaining a lifetime’s worth of knowledge and my silicon overmind to facts. You read about the discoveries contain a stupidly huge amount more.” “Fast-forward to today: Our growing of Madame Curie and the history of the immersion in digital life is sparking countries bordering Iraq. You read War Clive Thompson, 2007 similarly vigorous debates over the and Peace. Then you let it all ferment impact of digital technologies on the in the back of your mind for decades, way we think and behave, as individuals until, bang, it suddenly coalesces into “Socrates started what may have and as a globally interconnected a brilliant insight. (If Afghanistan had been the first technology scare. In the society.” stores of uranium, the Russians would’ve ‘Phaedrus,’ he lamented the invention discovered nuclear energy before 1917!) of books, which ‘create forgetfulness’ Anthony D. Williams, 2010

22 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 The English Language should be, and as lucid and eloquent as is going to hell we are able to make it. It is something to revel in and enjoy.”

[ agree ] Excerpts reflect the Edwin H. Newman, 1992 grammar, style, and punctuation of source materials. Sources on page 28. “What we are witnessing may be the first time in the history of the language that a communication form has prioritized the writer over the reader. Punctuation, as [Lynne] Truss, [Bill] Walsh, and the others all so passionately point out, was created with the sole purpose of helping the reader clearly and quickly get the writer’s point. Ditto for grammar in general. Ditto for most rules of usage. They help the reader or listener understand. But the information-age shortcuts now shaping “What we are witnessing may be the language, which were foreshadowed the first time in the history of the by advertising shortcuts such as ‘drive- thru,’ are designed exclusively for the language that a communication writer’s convenience—at the reader’s form has prioritized the writer over expense. Because it’s time-consuming to scroll through characters on my two- the reader.” way to spell ‘see,’ I put the burden on the recipient to fill in the blanks as I write just ‘c.’” June Casagrande, 2006 June Casagrande, 2006 “Intellectually, stops matter a great deal. in jargon, not puffed up with false If you are getting your commas, semi- dignity, not studded with trick phrases colons, and full stops wrong, it means that have lost their meaning. It is not “It pains me to produce this cringe- that you are not getting your thoughts falsely exciting, is not patronizing, worthy tidbit as an example, since it right, and your mind is muddled.” does not conceal the smallness and comes from my paper, the Ottawa triteness of ideas by clothing them in Citizen, but it does provide evidence of William Temple, 1938 language ever more grandiose, does the decline of English. The recent news not seek out increasingly complicated story was about a woman left hanging constructions, does not weigh us by the bankruptcy declaration of a travel “We ought to deplore the growing down with the gelatinous verbiage of agency. As the reporter wrote (and as an tendency to use only full stops and Washington and the social sciences. It editor presumably read, without blinking commas. Punctuation is an invaluable treats errors in spelling and usage with a an eye), the woman had ‘booked tickets aid to clear writing, and I suggest that decent tolerance but does not take them for she and her husband.’ far too little importance is attached to it lightly. It does not consider ‘We’re there by many journalists.” because that’s where it’s at’ the height “Egregious as that is, it is also an of cleverness. It is not merely a stream error symptomatic of a curious recent Frank Whitaker, 1939 of sound that disk jockeys produce, phenomenon in the continuing abuse of in which what is said does not matter English—the shunning of that fine and “[Language does not sound civil so long as it is said without pause. It useful case, the objective.” now.] A civil tongue … means to me is direct, specific, concrete, vigorous, a language that is not bogged down colorful, subtle, and imaginative when it Janice Kennedy, 2010

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 23 The English Language gender in the late Old English and early much exactly as badly as those that is going to hell Middle English period; the absorption came before … of large numbers of foreign words at all periods since the days of Edward the … [ disagree ] Excerpts reflect the Confessor and earlier; the great vowel grammar, style, and punctuation of shift at the beginning of the fifteenth “I for one take comfort in seeing the source materials. Sources on page 28. century, when nearly every long vowel same curmudgeonly old complaints sound in the standard language radically from my peers in generations past as changed its nature; the severance of the I do in seeing precisely the same bad home varieties of English into many writing in my students. Young peoples’ “When punctuation was first employed, overseas varieties, especially in North writing is not getting any better or it was in the role of the handmaid America and Australia; and during any worse than it has ever been: it is of prose; later the handmaid was the twentieth century the adoption of often quite bad for the same reason transformed by the pedants into a harsh- English of varying degrees of adequacy that young people often don’t wear faced chaperone, pervertedly ingenious as a lingua franca in virtually every seatbelts and put things in and on their in the contriving of stiff regulations and country in the world. body that twenty years from now will starched rules of decorum; now, happily, fill them with horror. Good writing is she is content to act as an auxiliary to “Any argument based on the assumption an old person’s game: it requires more the writer and as a guide to the reader.” that the changes occurring in the English than anything two qualities most young language in Great Britain at present are people happily lack—a sense of shame Harold Herd, 1925 more serious or more objectionable than and a sense of mortality.” those that have occurred in the last 1200 years is at least vulnerable and almost Jared Gardner, 2009 “We have made more fundamental certainly false.” changes to [English] in the past than altering the number of a few words Robert Burchfield, 1982 “Every few weeks, I get another missive from plural to singular. Think of the from a reader angry about the common alarm that thoughtful Anglo-Saxons use of certain nouns as verbs. The must have felt when they realized “Almost a century ago, in 1913, the most frequent irritant is ‘to impact’, that the progressive simplification papers tittered over the recently- which annoys conservatives, but people of Old English, particularly the loss publicized charge from its own trustees have also written me head-scratching of grammatical gender, was leading that Harvard undergraduates’ writing queries about the need for parenting, them away from mainland Europe and ‘shows a lack of compactness and transitioning, friending, messaging, into an unpredictable grammatical nice expression,’ and generally fails scrap-booking and imaging … isolation. Yet no whisper of such alarm to ‘approach the high standard of comes down to us in their chronicles language’ found in other generations. … or linguistic laws. Perhaps they were That same year a study published in less hypochondriac about their robust Outlook magazine suggested that the “English has a long and respectable language than we are.” vast majority of college students ‘missed tradition of using nouns for verbs: a cog somewhere in the wheel of We experience pain and head off to Philip Howard, 1979 education’ in that they lack ‘the ability dinner. Not too long ago, some people to write a correctly spelled, grammatical would get agitated about using ‘chair’ letter.’ or ‘host’ in a similar way (to chair a “Most of those who express concern meeting or host a party); these verbal about the state of the English language “Each generation has taken its pot-shots uses are now so common that they have at the present time seem to be unaware at the slipshod grammar, neologisms, slipped comfortably into respectability, that more grievous or more fundamental and complete unconcern with clarity in and I suspect the same will occur with changes to the language have occurred the writing of young people. And each medaling and messaging and friending at various periods since it was first generation has been utterly convinced and even, I hope, my favourite, recorded in written form in the eighth that things are getting worse … And weirding.” century. Examples of such fundamental yet, the more things change the more changes include the loss of grammatical each generation continues to write pretty Russell Smith, 2010

24 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 The English Language “English usage is sometimes more than is going to hell mere taste, judgment, and education— sometimes it’s sheer luck, like getting across a street.” [ final thoughts ] Excerpts reflect the grammar, style, and punctuation of E.B. White, 1954 source materials. Sources on page 28.

“‘We have long preserved our constitution,’ said Dr. Johnson more “There is a perfectly legitimate code than two centuries ago, ‘let us make governing grammar, usage and some struggles for our language.’” style, but the code is set up neither Theodore M. Bernstein, 1965 by cranks nor by know-nothings. It derives from the generally accepted “There is a perfectly legitimate code standards of educated users of governing grammar, usage and style, but the code is set up neither by cranks nor the language, often but not always by know-nothings. It derives from the influenced by what the masses say. generally accepted standards of educated users of the language, often but not What the code does not need is ex always influenced by what the masses cathedra injunctions by tinkerers who say. What the code does not need is ex cathedra injunctions by tinkerers would … clamp word meanings into an who would tamper with idioms, invent everlasting vise.” grammatical rules and clamp word meanings into an everlasting vise. To resist them is almost as necessary as to Theodore M. Bernstein, 1971 resist those who maintain that whatever the people say is just fine. Both camps contribute to confusion and imprecision. “What I have moft at Heart is, that “Yet many learned Men have been What we require is neither a language fome Method fhould be thought on for highly sensible of its Use; and some that is cramped nor a language gone afcertaining and fixing our Language ingenious and elegant Writers have wild.” for ever, after fuch Alterations are made condescended to point their Works with in it as fhall be thought requifite. For I Care; and very eminent Scholars have Theodore M. Bernstein, 1971 am of Opinion that is better a Language not disdained to teach the Method of fhould not be wholly perfect, than that it doing it with Propriety.” fhould be perpetually changing.” “Applying new meanings to old words James Burrow, 1771 is one of the ways in which the language Dr. Swift, 1712 is kept viable and adequate to its tasks. Usually we notice changes in meanings “You and I who read and write books only when they occur within our own “I know, there are some Persons who have very little effect upon the language. lifetimes. We are not aware that such affect to despise [punctuation], and We may think about it, write about it, changes occurred far back in many treat this whole Subject with the utmost and read about it, but it goes on without words that we don’t give a second Contempt, as a Trifle far below their us, or in spite of us.” thought to today.” Notice, and a Formality unworthy of their Regard: They do not hold it Charlton Laird, 1953 Theodore M. Bernstein, 1971 difficult, butdespicable ; and neglect it, as being above it.

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 25 “The Queen’s English belongs to we commemorate peoples of whom we but not your body clock, let alone your all of us. It evolves like a tide in the have never heard.” body count.” way that the mass of us decide to use it, majestically regardless of the Penelope Lively, 1997 Mark Abley, 2008 prescriptions of purists, even of the great wordFowler [sic] himself, who was quite as funny as Humpty Dumpty, but “‘People have been complaining “‘Passions run hot when the discussion not so arrogant.” about language change for centuries,’ turns to language,’ writes Rutgers says Katherine Barber, [former] editor English professor Jack Lynch in his Philip Howard, 1979 in chief of the Canadian Oxford sprightly new history of the notion of Dictionary. ‘They’re fascinated to learn ‘proper’ English, The Lexicographer’s that “travel” started off as an instrument Dilemma. ‘Friends who can discuss “The argument about where English of torture—but they want the changes to politics, religion and sex with perfect is heading is, as we have seen, one of stop now. I think people invest a lot in civility are often reduced to red-faced the oldest in the book. Conservatives correct spelling and grammar because rage when the topic of conversation is will take a prescriptive, authoritarian they worked very hard to learn it well in the serial comma or an expression like line. Liberals will prefer a tolerant, school—that’s why there’s a resistance. more unique’ … descriptive approach. There will be They say, “It’s terrible, they don’t use battles on a shifting battlefield—now the subjunctive anymore.” But the … vocabulary, now grammar—about subjunctive has been disappearing for ‘unacceptable’ or ‘incorrect’ English, centuries.’” “‘Correct’ English, as Lynch about the speed at which de facto characterizes it, is basically ‘the English English becomes de jure.” Mark Abley, 2008 wealthy and powerful people spoke a generation or two ago.’ And sure Robert McCrum, William Cran, enough, the first guides to English Robert MacNeil, 1986 “English can be a hard language usage promised to teach people to write for anyone, not just Mongolians and speak with greater ‘elegance’ and or Nepalese, to master. Its spelling ‘politeness,’ not greater correctness. “I [was] invited to join the Queen’s is unpredictable, its pronunciation These manuals, born of an age of English Society, which was formed in variable, its vocabulary huge. Its increased social mobility, were intended 1972 by some people in Britain who grammar, while deceptively simple, for ‘a newly self-conscious group of ‘felt very concerned about the decline contains a mass of pitfalls, phrasal verbs people who were no longer peasants but of literacy since the War.’ The society being the trickiest of all. still were excluded from the traditional offers its letterheads to members ‘to aristocracy.’ The suddenly rich children give weight to their communications “Unless you’ve grown up speaking of merchants and manufacturers needed with the press or BBC.’ English, it’s tough to remember the instructions on the elegant grammar difference between ‘stand up for’ and (and manners) of the aristocracy in “I wish the Queen’s English Society ‘stand up to’—not to mention ‘stand order to blend in with their social well, but I did not join it and I would in’ and ‘stand out,’ ‘stand off’ and superiors. Tellingly, the 300-year not join a comparable organization here. ‘stand on.’ Nastiest of all, ‘stand for’ history of fulmination against improper There is no office of state to name it and ‘stand by’ carry double meanings. usage is marked by diatribes against for, and a very good thing that is. The (English asks its prepositions to work those ‘inferior’ and upstart groups assertion of authority in these matters tremendously hard for their living.) supposedly most prone to transgression: rarely succeeds.” women, young people, racial and ethnic “While all human languages are at minorities and, of course, Americans.” Edwin H. Newman, 1992 times illogical, English seems to take the unpredictability principle to an Laura Miller, 2009 extreme. You can stuff a corpse into a “We are walking lexicons. In a single body bag but not into a body building; a sentence of idle chatter we preserve student body has many students, though Latin, Anglo-Saxon, Norse: we carry a heavenly body does not have many a museum inside our heads, each day heavens; I can read your body language

26 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 Hands off my Hamlet’s BlackBerry: A Practical Philosophy for Building a Good language! Life in the Digital Age, William Powers, 2010

The Internet is destroying our brains: disagree [ 18–19 ] [ sources ] Excerpts reflect the grammar, style, and punctuation of “Living with a computer,” James Fallows, the Atlantic, July 1982, the source materials. www.theatlantic.com/magazine/print/1982/07/living-with-a -computer/6063/, accessed June 10, 2010

“Google: making Nick Carr stupid, but it’s made this guy smarter,” John Battelle, John Battelle’s Searchblog, June 10, 2008, The Internet is destroying our brains: agree [ 14–17 ] http://battellemedia.com/archives/2008/06/google_making_nick “The multitasking generation,” Claudia Wallis, Time, March 19, _carr_stupid_but_its_ made_this_guy_smarter, accessed 2006, www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1174696,00.html, September 3, 2010 accessed June 9, 2010 “Is Google making us stupid? Nope!” Philip Davis, The Scholarly Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, Kitchen, June 16, 2008, http://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2008/06 Maryanne Wolf, 2007 /16/is-google-making-us-stupid-nope/, accessed July 1, 2010

“Issues for DSM-V: internet addiction,” Jerald J. Block, M.D., The “Is Google making archaeologists smarter?” Heather Pringle, American Journal of Psychiatry, March 2008, http://ajp Archaeology, February 27, 2009, http://archaeology.org/blog .psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/165/3/306, accessed /?p=332, accessed September 18, 2010 August 17, 2010 “In defense of distraction,” Sam Anderson, New York magazine, “Thumbspeak,” Louis Menand, The New Yorker, October 20, 2008 May 25, 2009, http://nymag.com/news/features/56793/index2.html, accessed July 5, 2010 The Prodigal Tongue, Mark Abley, 2008 “Mind over mass media,” Steven Pinker, New York Times, Embracing the Wide Sky: A Tour Across the Horizons of the Mind, June 10, 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/opinion Daniel Tammet, 2009 /11Pinker.html?th&emc=th, accessed June 11, 2010

“Multitasking brain divides and conquers, to a point,” Jon Hamilton, “Battle of the web gurus,” Anthony D. Williams, The Globe 99.9FM, wbur.org (National Public Radio station), April 15, 2010, and Mail, July 17, 2010 [Books reviewed in this article: Cognitive www.wbur.org/npr/126018694, accessed September 3, 2010 Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Connected Age, Clay Shirky, 2010; The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, “Hooked on gadgets, and paying a mental price,” Matt Richtel, The Nicholas Carr, 2010] New York Times, June 6, 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07 /technology/07brain.html, accessed June 11, 2010 The Internet is destroying our brains: how to fix your brain [ 20–21 ] “Surf at your own peril,” Marjorie Howard, Tufts Journal, June 16, Slow Reading, John Miedema, 2009 2010, http://tuftsjournal.tufts.edu/2010/06_1/features/01/, accessed July 1, 2010 “NH professor pushes for return to slow reading,” Holly Ramer, The Boston Globe, June 17, 2010, www.boston.com/news/education “As technology advances, deep reading suffers,” Nicholas Carr, /k_12/articles/2010/06/17/nh_professor_pushes_for_return_to_slow SFGate.com, June 20, 2010, http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-06-20 _reading/, accessed September 4, 2010 /opinion/21918534_1_reading-words-brain, accessed September 4, 2010 “Slow reading: The best way to make reading fun again,” Chauncey Mabe, blog of the Florida Center for the Literary Arts at Miami Dade “Why e-books will never replace real books,” Jan Swafford, Slate, College, June 21, 2010, http://flcenterlitarts.wordpress.com/2010/06 June 29, 2010, www.slate.com/id/2258054/, accessed /21/slow-reading-the-best-way-to-make-reading-fun-again/, accessed September 4, 2010 September 3, 2010 “Call, surf, text, play, watch … tilt!” Matt Richtel, The Globe “The art of slow reading,” Patrick Kingsley, The Guardian, July 15, and Mail, August 26, 2010 2010, www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jul/15/slow-reading/print, accessed July 27, 2010 The Shallows, Nicholas Carr, 2010

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 27 The Internet is destroying our brains: final thoughts [ 22 ] lord high treafurer of Great-Britain,” Jonathan Swift, 1711–1712, “Your outboard brain knows all,” Clive Thompson, collision detection, The Works of Dr. Jonathan Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, October 11, 2007, www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/2007/10/quick Volume III, Jonathan Swift, 1754 _can_you_d.php, accessed September 18, 2010 James Burrow, An essay on the use of pointing, 1771, as quoted Righting the Mother Tongue: from Olde English to Email, the Tangled in You Have a Point There: A Guide to Punctuation and Its Allies, Story of English Spelling, David Wolman, 2008 Eric Partridge, 1953

“Our cluttered minds,” Jonah Lehrer, The New York Times, May 27, 2010, Charlton Laird, from The Miracle of Language, 1953, as quoted in www.nytimes.com/2010/06/06/books/review/Lehrer-t.html, accessed The International Thesaurus of Quotations, compiled by Eugene September 3, 2010 Ehrlich and Marshall DeBruhl, 1996

“Battle of the web gurus,” Anthony D. Williams, The Globe and Mail, E.B. White, from “Shop talk,” in The Second Tree from the Corner, July 17, 2010 1954, as quoted in The International Thesaurus of Quotations, compiled by Eugene Ehrlich and Marshall DeBruhl, 1996

The English language is going to hell: agree [ 23 ] The Careful Writer, Theodore M. Bernstein, 1965 William Temple, Archbishop of York, reported in The Observer, October 23, 1938, as quoted in You Have a Point There: A Guide to Punctuation Miss Thistlebottom’s Hobgoblins, Theodore M. Bernstein, 1971 and Its Allies, Eric Partridge, 1953 Weasel Words, Philip Howard, 1979 Frank Whitaker, in an address to the Institute of Journalists: reproduced in The J.I.J., January 1939, as quoted in You Have a Point There: A Guide to The Story of English, Robert McCrum, William Cran, Robert Punctuation and Its Allies, Eric Partridge, 1953 MacNeil, 1986

Edwin Newman On Language (includes Strictly Speaking and A Civil Edwin Newman On Language (includes Strictly Speaking and Tongue; this excerpt is from A Civil Tongue), Edwin H. Newman, 1992 A Civil Tongue; this excerpt is from A Civil Tongue), Edwin H. Newman, 1992 Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies, June Casagrande, 2006 Moon Tiger, Penelope Lively, 1997, as quoted in Globish, Robert “The iPhone’s assault on the English language,” Janice Kennedy, McCrum, 2010 The Vancouver Sun, April 13, 2010 The Prodigal Tongue, Mark Abley, 2008

“Memo to grammar cops: Back off! A new book on the history of The English language is going to hell: disagree [ 24 ] ‘proper’ English says you’re just stuck up,” Laura Miller, Salon, Harold Herd, Everybody’s Guide to Punctuation, 1925, as quoted in October 25, 2009, www.salon.com/books/review/2009/10/25 You Have a Point There: A Guide to Punctuation and Its Allies, /lexicographers_dilemma, accessed September 3, 2010 Eric Partridge, 1953

Weasel Words, Philip Howard, 1979

From the Introduction of The Spoken Word, A BBC Guide, Robert Burchfield, 1982

“It was the most literate of times, it was the most illiterate of times,” Jared Gardner, The Huffington Post, September 1, 2009, www.huffingtonpost.com/jared-gardner/it-was-the-most-literate _b_274640.html, accessed September 2, 2009

“Don’t let using nouns as verbs impact you,” Russell Smith, The Globe and Mail, April 8, 2010

The English language is going to hell: final thoughts [ 25–26 ] “A proposal for correcting, improving and afcertaining the English tongue. In a letter to the moft honourable Robert earl of Oxford and Mortimer,

28 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 about guiding entrepreneurs through the challenging process of creating, growing, and succeeding in business.

As an independent contractor, Cerina is involved in many ventures. In addition to etcetera being a writer and editor, she is the content manager for Small Business BC, teaches “Start Smart” and “Tuning up Your Business Plan” seminars, is a member of the judging panel for the “Successful You Small Business Awards,” and provides business strategy consulting services. You can find her blog at www.smallbusinessbc.ca/blogs/p/cerina UPCOMING EVENTS Time: 7:30 pm -wheatland. EAC BC SPEAKER SESSION - : Time: 10:00 am–4:00 pm EDITING EAC Cost: Free for members; $10 for non- October 20, 2010 members; $5 for students with valid ID Cost: $100 for EAC members who register on or before October 8 (after October 8: $120); Guest speakers: Michelle Boulton and Place: YWCA Health & Wellness Centre $160 for non-members who register on or Greg Ioannou, national executive council 535 Hornby Street Welch Room, 4th floor before October 8 (after October 8: $180) EAC’s national executive council wants to Vancouver Place: SFU Harbour Centre Campus improve the way our assocation is run. 515 West Hastings Street President Michelle Boulton and vice president YWCA is located on the west side of Hornby Vancouver Greg Ioannou will be at our October meeting Street, between Dunsmuir and Pender, one to discuss the three main things under review: block northeast of the Burrard SkyTrain Station. Parking is available across the street Registration: www.gifttool.com/registrar /ShowEventDetails?ID=1262&EID=7886 1. composition of the national for $5.00 after 6:00 pm. Street parking is also executive council; available.

2. procedures for the formation of Information: www.editors.ca/node/904 or VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL new branches and “mini-branches”; [email protected] WRITERS & READERS FESTIVAL October 19–24, 2010 3. financial and organizational arrangements between the national EAC-BC SEMINAR: START YOUR The Vancouver International Writers & body and local branches. OWN EDITING BUSINESS Readers Festival attracts both acclaimed and October 23, 2010 yet-to-be discovered writers. Their goal? To get your feedback. Instructor: Cerina Wheatland Specifically, they want to hear what you Where: Granville Island think about the issues raised in the document Interested in learning how to start and run Vancouver “Editing EAC,” and they want to hear your small editing business effectively and how would you like your interests to be profitably? Information: www.writersfest.bc.ca represented within the association. This is one meeting you won’t want to miss. Then come to this full-day seminar and learn how to survive and thrive as a small business SURREY INTERNATIONAL We will draw for a door prize at the end of owner in the writing and editing industry. By WRITERS’ CONFERENCE the evening. The winner will receive free the end of the afternoon, you will know how October 22–24, 2010 admission to one EAC-BC seminar. to create and implement your business plan, how to manage your time and your contracts The Surrey International Writers’ Conference Downloads (you must be logged-in first): efficiently, how to manage the financial side attracts authors, editors, and agents from “Editing EAC”: www.editors.ca/files/private of your business, and how to better market across North America. /Editing_EAC-Discussion_Paper-2010-05-27 both your business and yourself. -FINAL.pdf Place: Sheraton Guildford Hotel This seminar will be led by Cerina Wheatland. 15269 104th Avenue “Strategic plan”: www.editors.ca/files Cerina grew up in an entrepreneurial family, Surrey /private/AGM2010-Strategic_plan_update working in her father’s greenhouse and -20100527.pdf market garden business. She is passionate Information: www.siwc.ca

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 29 ASSOCIATION OF PERSONAL social media, and publicity in the world to the BC branch without having to commit HISTORIANS ANNUAL CONFERENCE of books and e-books. They shared their to a lot of time each month. Any member in November 3–7, 2010 knowledge, experience, and expertise good standing is eligible. generously. What’s more, they made Rumour has it that many freelance editors everything look easy—and best of all, fun. If you are interested in volunteering, please find working in the personal history niche contact branch coordinator Miro Kinch at is an ideal way to supplement their income. First up was “The editors’ guide to [email protected]. Interested? WordPress,” followed by the dos and don’ts of “Creating a great editors’ website.” We Responsibilities: The social chair is If so, you might want to research the were given a wealth of tips and ideas on responsible for catering at monthly executive Association of Personal Historians. It will be everything from the basics (like content) to and general meetings and for maintaining holding its annual conference (theme: “Voices business deals (like trading editorial services a supply of coffee, tea, cups, napkins, and of the Elders”) in Victoria this year. for professional design services). plates. The social chair is also responsible for organizing and hosting a members-only Place: The Fairmont Empress Finally, since a great website isn’t really dinner party in December. 721 Government Street great unless people can find it—and through Victoria it, you—we explored “Writing and editing Time commitment: 2–3 hours per month for SEO (search engine optimization).” It’s a Information: www.personalhistorians.org numbers game—the bots want to know how /conference/index.php many people are looking at and/or linking to your site. Oh and by the way, did you know NOW YOU KNOW there’s something out there called “SEO copy EAC-BC IS ON TWITTER EVENT REVIEWS editing”? Opportunity knocks! Breaking news! EAC-BC is now on Twitter. EAC-BC SEMINAR: CREATING Follow us @EditorsBC. AND EDITING SOCIAL CONTENT Your website is your home base, but you September 25, 2010 can’t stop there—it’s onward and outward into the rest of the multi-faceted world of Guest speakers: Angela Crocker, Kim social media. Your blog beckons, there are e- NEW YORK IS HOME TO Plumley, Peggy Richardson, George Plumley books to write and publish, and an enormous 800 LANGUAGES Reviewer: Miro Kinch community to interact with through sites like Did you know that New York is “the most Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube … linguistically diverse city in the world”? In The Book Broads—Angela “Marketing fact, “some experts believe New York is Mama” Crocker, Kim “Publicity Chick” home to as many as 800 languages—far more Plumley, Peggy “Grammar Geek” CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS than the 176 spoken by students in the city’s Richardson—and George “Honorary Broad” SOCIAL CHAIR public schools or the 138 that residents of Plumley, showed up in full force and fine EAC-BC is looking for someone to fill the Queens, New York’s most diverse borough, fettle at SFU on September 25 to conduct role of social chair. Becoming social chair is listed on their 2000 census forms.” a whirlwind tour of publishing, marketing, a great way to make a valuable contribution In a recent New York Times article, City University of New York linguistics professor Daniel Kaufman says that New York “is the capital of language density in the world” and that it’s “an endangerment hot spot where we are surrounded by languages that are not The Vancouver 2011 Conference going to be around even in 20 or 30 years.” Committee has announced the theme, Con dates, and venue for next year’s EAC In an effort to preserve these dying languages, national conference. Kaufman helped start the Endangered Language Alliance “to identify and record Theme Editing in the Age of e-Everything dying languages, many of which have no fer written alphabet, and [to] encourage native Dates May 27–29, 2011

conference speakers to teach them to compatriots.”

ence Location SFU Harbour Centre But it’s no easy task. Want to volunteer? If so, send your

EAC contact details to volunteer coordinator “It’s hard to use a word like preserve with 2011May 27–29, 2011 Chantal Moore at [email protected]. a language,” says Columbia and New York

30 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 University professor Robert Holman, who is Sheila Keenan, New Westminster Answers to the page 4 working with Kaufman on the project. “It’s Tracey Leacock, Burnaby not like putting jelly in a jar. A language is Janice Love, Vernon “Non word” quiz used. Language is consciousness. Everybody Brenda Martin, Vancouver wants to speak English, but those lullabies Sabina Minshall, Garibaldi Highlands 1. Accordionated: being able to that allow you to go to sleep at night and Jane Sellwood, Victoria drive and refold a road map at dream—that’s what we’re talking about.” the same time.

At-risk languages include: dozens of Native CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS 2. Clickjacking: the use of hidden West Coast Editor is accepting submissions American languages; Aramaic; Irish Gaelic; buttons on a website to trick Pennsylvania Dutch; Romany; Yiddish. for the following issues. Please contact Cheryl at [email protected] users into performing actions Source: “Listening to (and saving) the world’s to discuss your ideas. they do not intend, such as languages,” Sam Roberts, April 28, 2010, revealing personal information www.nytimes.com/2010/04/29/nyregion January 2011: Drive-by Editing or switching on webcams. /29lost.html?pageswanted=all, accessed Photo deadline: November 10, 2010 June 2, 2010 Theme: mistakes that appear in public signage 3. Faboosh: fabulous. (grammar mistakes, usage mistakes, typos) 4. Fumb: your big toe. VILLAINS WERE ONCE FARMERS February 2011: Spring Series catalogue Copy deadline: January 5, 2011 AND NICE MEN ARE LASCIVIOUS 5. Nonversation: a pointless chat. You know, of course, that words often shift Theme: EAC-BC’s 2011 speaker sessions and their meanings over time, but did you know weekend seminars 6. Optotoxical: a look that could that a villain “once merely lived on a farm in Roman times; he was to become a serf and, May 2011: Volunteering with EAC-BC kill, normally from a parent or finally, a bad man”? And did you know that Copy deadline: April 6, 2011 spouse. the word “nice” (which meant “ignorant” Theme: EAC-BC 2011 elections and (nescius) in Latin) could mean either volunteer profiles 7. Peppier: a waiter whose sole job “lascivious” or “trivial” in Shakespeare’s is to offer diners ground pepper, June 2011: Secret lives of editors time? usually from a large pepper mill. Copy deadline: May 4, 2011 Theme: showcase of the creative (non-editing Source: Language Made Plain, Anthony 8. Polkadodge: the dance two Burgess, 1978 related) work of BC editors (e.g. poetry, art, creative writing, photography) passing people do when they try to avoid each other but move in NEW EAC-BC MEMBERS the same direction. Jennifer Abel, Vancouver Janet Fidler, Kelowna 9. Whinese: the language spoken by children on long trips.

10. Wurfing: surfing the Internet at Win a limited edition work.

serial comma coffee Source (words and definitions for mug†. The winner can 1 and 4–10): “Social Studies: Dormant Words,” Michael Kesterton, The choose one of two de- Globe and Mail, August 9, 2010; signs: either “I love serial Source (words and definitions for 2–3): “Oxford dictionary shuns commas” or “I hate serial not so ‘faboosh’ words,” Reuters, commas.” August 14, 2010, The Gazette, www.montrealgazette.com/news /Oxford+dictionary+shuns+faboosh +words/3399449/story.html, accessed See the advertisement September 20, 2010 on page 32 to learn how! †Designed by Cheryl Hannah MS Word Clipart, 2002 MS Word

OCTOBER 2010 WEST COAST EDITOR 31 photos. you have them. we want them.

West Coast Editor is gathering photos for its annual Drive-by Editing edition.

Please send your Drive-by Editing photos to [email protected] by 12 noon on November 10, 2010. The EAC-BC member who submits the most photos will win a limited edition “I love serial commas” (or “I hate serial commas”) coffee mug.

32 WEST COAST EDITOR OCTOBER 2010 PHOTO BY JAMES HANNAH, WINDSOR, NOVA SCOTIA, JUNE 2010