Copyediting
Language in the Digital Age
August—September 2013
www.copyediting.com
03
06
07
08
09
10
In Depth
Grammar on
the Edge
Ask the
Editor
RESOURCES
Currents
Six Time Management
Tips
Editing Biased or
Offensive Terms
Technically
Speaking
Working with ESL
Authors
The Curious Case
of Who
Copyediting the Web
The Business of Copyediting
Editorial Consults
M
by Katharine O’Moore-Klopf, ELS
any freelance editors work in their own offices,
without office mates sitting at nearby desks.
Seclusion can be beneficial; it’s easier to concentrate when there’s no one to chat with. But what
do you do when your reference works don’t provide guidance
on a tricky editing issue? Where do you get a second opinion on
navigating an editor-client relationship? Will the piece of office
equipment you’re considering fit your needs? You can save time,
money, and sometimes your sanity by reaching out to colleagues
on profession-related email lists.
If you haven’t explored the world of email lists, you may
be surprised by how many there are and by the specificity of
their niches. Here are just a few of the lists you can consult for
information and advice:
Organization or List Name
List Details
Association of
Earth Science Editors
Affiliated with an organization based in the US for editors, journal managers, and others concerned with
publication in the earth sciences.
For members only.
Association of
Health Care Journalists
Affiliated with an organization based in the US for health care writers and editors.
For members only.
American Medical Writers
Association
Affiliated with an organization based in the US for medical writers and editors.
At press time, the organization was revamping its communication channels, switching from email lists for
members only to forums for members only; plans are for the lists’ archives to remain available to members.
Bay Area Editors’ Forum
Affiliated with an organization based in the US for both freelance and in-house editors working in a variety
of publication settings, most of whom live in the San Francisco Bay Area.
For members only.
Canadian Freelance Union
Affiliated with an organization based in Canada for independent media workers, including freelance editors.
For members only.
Copyediting-L
Public list for copyeditors and other defenders of the English language. Topics include sticky style issues,
editing philosophy, various types of specialized editing, reference books, client relations, Internet resources,
electronic editing and software, and freelance issues.
Editorial Freelancers Association
Affiliated with an organization based in the US for freelance editors, writers, indexers, proofreaders,
researchers, desktop publishers, translators, and others who offer a broad range of skills and specialties.
For members only.
Editors’ Association of Canada/
Association canadienne des
réviseurs
Affiliated with an organization based in Canada for both salaried and freelance editors.
For members only.
Freelance (a.k.a., Publishing
Industry Freelancers)
Public list for publishing industry freelancers. Topics include publisher comparisons, job searches, types of
work, compensation rates, payment and nonpayment issues, insurance and taxes, and home offices and
equipment. Topics do not include grammar, syntax, authorial voice, etc.
Publish-L
Public list for publishing professionals. Discussion list of issues related to publishing; subscribers include
midsize independent publishers and their staff members, self-publishers, writers, editors, reviewers,
publicists, printers, coaches, and designers.
Society for Editors and
Proofreaders
Affiliated with an organization based in the UK for editors and proofreaders.
For members only.
Visit the Networking page of the Copyeditors’ Knowledge Base for links to plenty of other profession-related organizations,
many of which have their own email lists. n
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Copyediting
Copyediting
| August–September
| June–July 2013 1
Editor’s Letter
New Sources of Editing Work
by Erin Brenner
W
hen I tell people I edit for a living, many of them assume I edit
books or newspapers. It’s easy to see
why: those publishers have traditionally
employed large editing staffs to get all
the work done.
But with the emergence of digital
media, these employers have cut or
eliminated large staffs, leaving only a
few editors to do the work of many or
relying on freelancers, who are cheaper
and easier to dismiss later. To stay
employed, copyeditors have to think
beyond traditional publishers. This
issue will help you do that.
Our In Depth feature, by returning
guest contributor Geoff Hart, guides
you through finding work with authors
whose second language is English and
offers strategies for working with them.
In Technically Speaking, I review
some of the basics of editing for the
web, including tips on editing copy,
using a content management system,
and fulfilling search engine optimization
duties.
Other topics we cover in this issue
include how to deal with offensive
language in copy, how to manage your
time more efficiently, and how to choose
between which and that.
Changes in publishing may mean
fewer copyeditors are working for traditional publishers, but they don’t mean
there isn’t work for us. We just have to
educate ourselves on the opportunities
out there. n
In Style
Initial Reaction
by Paul R. Martin
Y
ou’ve heard of the SPEBSQSA, right?
Well, if you’re of a certain age and
a fan of a cappella singing, you know it
stands for the Society for the Preservation
and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America (now Barbershop
Harmony Society).
It dates from 1938, and its name was
intended as a spoof on the alphabet-soup
agency names arising in the New Deal
era. But is it an acronym, an abbreviation,
or what?
Strictly speaking, an acronym is an
abbreviation that is pronounceable as a
word, like radar for “radio detection and
ranging.” Aficionados have tried but failed
to work out a pronunciation for SPEBSQSA, so it qualifies broadly as an abbreviation and more narrowly as an initialism,
with just the initial letters of the name
pronounced individually.
The heydays of barbershop singing
and the New Deal may be long gone, but
the issue of how to treat such names never
ends, as government agencies keep proliferating. Initialisms are invariably capitalized,
à la SPEBSQSA, but some major stylebooks
call for uppercasing just the first letter of
proper-noun acronyms of more than four
letters (more than six letters in the case of
The Associated Press Stylebook).
The Office of Federal Housing
Enterprise Oversight, or OFHEO, had
gained status as an acronym because it
was pronounced off-HAY-oh inside the
Beltway. But it was recently replaced by
the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or
the FHFA, an initialism, not an acronym.
Note that the definite article is usually
used with agency initialisms, like the FBI
and the CIA, but not with acronyms, like
UNICEF and NATO.
Then we have the US Anti-Doping
Agency, which controls the anti-doping
programs for US Olympics sports. It is
usually rendered as USADA and pronounced you-SAH-dah.
OMG (oh my gosh), as they say,
euphemistically, in today’s ubiquitous
Internet shorthand. This may be TMI
(too much information). So I’ll sign off
and TTYL (talk to you later). n
INSIDE JOKE by Sage Stossel
CONTACT US
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Online Editor: onlineeditor@copyediting.com
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Call us: 888-303-2373
Send letters to: Copyediting Editorial Office
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Copyediting | August–September 2013 02
In DEPTH
Working with Authors Who Speak English as a Second Language
by Geoff Hart
F
or 25 years, I’ve had an intellectually and financially rewarding career working with authors
who speak English as their
second language (ESL authors). In this
article, I’ll share my experience so that
you can seek the same rewards. I’ll build
on Katharine O’Moore-Klopf ’s December 2011 article through additional perspectives and tricks of the trade. Though
I’ll focus on editing for peer-reviewed
science journals, the advice applies to all
types of ESL editing.
Finding Work
I launched my career by contacting editors
of science journals published by Springer,
Elsevier, and Sage. Contact information is generally available online, and the
same approach would work for magazines,
books, and websites. Colleagues and
librarians can suggest sources for other
subjects. I created an intimidating list, but
contacting 10 journals a day for several
months made the task manageable.
Persuading publishers to work with
you is—surprisingly—not about your skills
and experience. What they really want to
know is what problems you’ll solve for
them. In my case, the problem was that
journal editors often received articles so
poorly written they couldn’t tell whether
they were worth reviewing. I offered to
solve this problem by dealing directly with
the authors to produce a clear manuscript
so that the reviewers were free to focus on
the science rather than the English. Only
after stating my solution did I present my
credentials. I also provided a PDF that
explained my services and pointed to my
website; journal editors often forwarded it
to authors.
TIP:
Publishers consider editing
an annoying, unproductive expense and rarely pay well. You’ll
earn much more working directly
for authors.
WWW.COPYEDITING.COM
When authors contacted me, I
clarified our mutual responsibilities via a
concise document that you can download and modify to meet your needs. It
explains that I can fix the language and
suggest improvements in content or logic
but can’t make bad science publishable.
The author is responsible for ensuring
that my edits are correct and requesting
clarification if they are unsure. Although
formal contracts permit legal action if
problems arise, your goal should be to
eliminate misunderstandings that might
lead to legal action.
My Experience
Most of my clients are Japanese or Chinese, but I have clients in more than a
dozen other countries. The specific problems you’ll face depend on the differences
between the conventions of English and
those of the other language and culture.
For example, Chinese doesn’t use
articles, subject-verb accord, or (usually)
pronouns. Investing time to understand
your authors’ cultures increases the
likelihood of productive working relationships, and sometimes even friendships.
To understand Chinese culture, I studied
Scott Seligman’s Chinese Business Etiquette and Greg Bissky’s Wearing Chinese
Glasses. I’ve learned enough Chinese to
craft polite emails and to communicate
occasionally about non-business matters
(e.g., wishes for a happy lunar new year).
This kind of respect weakens the adversarial feeling many Asian authors have for
clueless Westerners.
Nonetheless, there are more similarities than differences among authors who
must write in an unfamiliar language.
Chinese and Japanese cultures discourage
direct criticism, for example, but editing
is inherently adversarial in any culture:
each edit implies the author is wrong.
To diminish the sting of my edits in
Chinese and Japanese manuscripts, I
revise my comments to focus on the
language problem, not on the author’s
error—an approach that works well with
all authors.
My authors are experts in science, not
in writing or Word, so I provide resources
that make writing easier. For example:
33Revision tracking in Word 2007,
2008, and 2011
33Older Word versions
33Mac keyboard shortcuts
33Windows shortcuts
33A journal template (Word
download)
33Advice on grammar: Beijing
lectures 1, 2, and 3
Feel free to modify these documents
to meet your needs, but please retain the
attribution.
Strategies
Working in another language is intimidating; harsh feedback is demotivating. Thus,
make your comments as gentle and considerate as possible. Overuse please, particularly for imperative statements. Focus your
wording on the problem (e.g., “in English,
we do [description]”) rather than on the
author. Be patient, even when you’re ready
to shoot your computer. It’s tempting to
believe that someone who writes poorly is
stupid or careless, but many exceptionally
smart people never learn to write well.
Most ESL authors understand technical English better than everyday English
because they’ve read so many English
manuscripts. Thus, when you review your
comments and queries, simplify your
wording as much as possible without
creating telegraphic phrases or sentence
fragments. Words that seem superfluous,
such as articles, provide important clues to
understanding. Make objects or subjects
explicit, since pronouns are problematic
for many authors. Never report the existence of a problem (“I don’t understand”)
if you can describe the problem (“does
it represent the experiment or the study
site?”). Use precise words, even if authors
will have to consult a dictionary, whenever
simpler words would be unclear or have
multiple plausible interpretations.
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Copyediting | August–September 2013 03
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Explain redundantly. An author who
can’t understand one explanation may
understand the other or the combination. For example, visual descriptions
strengthen verbal descriptions: “In this
graph, please use white circles (o) for Chinese data and black circles (•) for global
data.” Avoid using terms like asterisk or
dagger if you can type the symbols.
Other tricks include coloring the
names of colors (e.g., red, green), applying formatting (e.g., italicize, boldface,
or underline words that require these
formats), and using numbers instead
of words for numerical concepts (e.g.,
“change 10 to 11”). If you have graphics software, annotate graphics directly
instead of describing problems.
When you describe solutions, provide
phrases the author can emulate. Don’t
explain obscure grammatical issues; provide solutions. For example:
33Do you mean “high pan evaporation”
or “high potential evapotranspiration”? In each case, please provide the
actual value.
33Do you mean “the value is” (only 1
value) or “the values are” (2 or more
values)?
Don’t overwhelm authors with too
many choices. Even native English speakers expect you to provide your best guess,
not all possibilities.
Optimal communication methods
vary among cultures, but more among
individuals within a culture. Many of my
Chinese authors are uncomfortable with
spoken English and prefer email because
they can carefully revise their words; however, a colleague’s Chinese authors prefer
phone calls because this establishes a more
personal relationship.
Misunderstandings are common, so
attribute problems to misunderstandings
before malice. For example, never assume
that authors receive your email; spam
filters block email, and computer failures
delay messages. Ask authors to confirm
that they have received your message. If
there’s no reply, try again from a second
address so that nobody misses a deadline
or thinks you’re ignoring them.
Sometimes their messages to us are
blocked. My wife once edited a Nigerian
banker’s book, and all his messages were
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flagged as spam. I have two primary email
addresses, and I periodically remind my
authors to contact me via the second
address if they receive no reply from the
first. Similarly, I warn clients when I’ll
be away from the office, and I check my
email while I travel. Authors with other
priorities sometimes forget we’re away.
Offer to intervene on a client’s behalf
by talking to a journal’s editor. Papers
are often rejected for language reasons
without ever being read. Always edit
letters to the journal, since some journals
will reject the edited manuscript unread
if the letter is gibberish. Ask authors to
include your name and contact information in the letter so the journal can
contact you with questions.
TIP:
Rename the files authors
send to follow your own naming
system. This makes it difficult for
them to confuse their original file
with the edited file.
Watch for plagiarism. In communal
cultures such as China, authors often misunderstand Western concepts of intellectual property and copy text directly from
published works. They believe citing the
source is sufficient, but Western convention is to paraphrase unless direct quotes
are essential. Journals use software to
detect such plagiarism, which can blacken
an author’s reputation.
Such plagiarism isn’t always obvious,
but two clues help: unusually lucid writing amidst confusion and radical stylistic
changes. Googling suspect phrases often
reveals the source. When I spot such
problems, I highlight the copied text and
paraphrase it for the author in case they
can’t find their own wording.
Deciphering the Meaning
Understanding the subject makes guessing
the meaning of incomprehensible phrases
easier. A phrase that makes no sense at first
glance often becomes clearer if you read
to the end of the paragraph before trying
to solve the problem. When the logical
sequence must be from A to B and then
from B to C, and you can only understand
A and C, asking what B must mean to
complete this chain of logic solves many
problems. If a word is clearly wrong but
you can’t guess the right word, look for
false cognates and phonetic misspellings.
Some recent examples:
33Chinese manuscripts: showed affection
for instead of showed the effects of; secession instead of cessation
33Japanese manuscripts: L vs. R substitutes
(glassland for grassland) and phonetic
misspellings (evolve instead of involve,
offensive odders instead of odors)
Some misused words are near synonyms
for the correct word, and a thesaurus may
reveal the correct word. If you speak the
author’s native language, you may know of
words that changed meaning through linguistic evolution. For example, the French
assister means “participate,” not “assist.”
If you work with authors frequently,
you’ll start seeing patterns in how they
construct sentences. Familiarity with those
patterns leads to standard solutions you
can apply for each type of problem.
Clear Communication
Authors who can’t understand you can’t
review your edits. To communicate clearly:
33Avoid phrasal verbs and passive voice,
though to be is an acceptable auxiliary
verb. Choose stronger verbs that convey the meaning: “Did you receive my
message?” not “Did my message make
it through?”
33Avoid contractions (e.g., use cannot
rather than can’t). Skilled writers understand them; less-skilled writers won’t.
33Avoid idioms, particularly ones that
rely on ellipsis that only native speakers will know.
33Simplify sentence structures. Nested
clauses, complex punctuation, multiple
semicolons, and parenthetical structures
are challenging even for native speakers.
If necessary, use a numbered list.
Reminders Required
Working with ESL authors requires
patience. People who aren’t professional
writers (e.g., most scientists) write too
infrequently to learn from their mistakes.
When this leads to repeated revisions of the
same phrase, it creates revision fatigue, and
authors stop paying close attention to your
edits. This can lead to serious errors when,
inevitably, you misinterpret something.
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Copyediting | August–September 2013 04
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Periodically remind authors to check
your revisions. I do this several times
per manuscript, particularly for obscure
points, using wording such as “please
confirm that I did not change your meaning.” Encourage collaboration. I remind
authors at least once per manuscript that if
my revision appears incorrect, they should
describe their meaning in different words
so that I can try again.
Remind authors that you can only
guarantee the manuscript’s language. If
the content is weak, you can’t guarantee
acceptance; however, as you gain experience with a type of editing, you can help
authors avoid common pitfalls that lead
to rejection. If you have expertise or an
advanced degree in a subject, critique
their logic and assumptions, but don’t
From @Copyediting
guarantee you’ll spot all the problems.
Peer reviewers often spot subtle errors
most editors can’t detect.
If you earn an author’s loyalty, beware
the snowball effect. Authors will introduce
you to their friends, who will introduce
you to their friends. Your workload can
increase exponentially, particularly in
highly networked cultures like China. I
didn’t know this and ended up with more
clients than time to work with them. Build
a network of colleagues who can help out
when you’re overwhelmed. Good colleagues will reciprocate. n
I know CMS is in favor of hyphenating “a three-year-old,” but I don’t see
the point. “A three year old” works
for me.
Tip of the Week: Stop and think
when you find a “since” that means
“because” in a manuscript. On the
blog: ow.ly/mLNpN.
Join the conversation!
Follow us on Twitter: @Copyediting
and friend us on Facebook.
Geoff Hart dearly loves working with
his ESL authors, even when they keep him
working late into the night. Visit Hart
online at www.geoff-hart.com.
People
Recently we added two new bloggers to our roster. Read about them here, and then check out their posts
on the blog.
Adrienne
Montgomerie
Adrienne will write
our new blog topic,
Canadian, Eh?, which
will focus on topics
specific to Canadian
copyeditors. Since
1997, educational
materials and
knowledge transfer
have been her editing
specialty while working for Canada’s largest
educational publishers and with her colleagues
at dameditors.ca. She is certified as a copyeditor
through the Editors’ Association of Canada (EAC)
but does mostly developmental and substantive
edits. Her title credits range from aircraft build
specs to sea-kayaking guides and from geophysics
to Aboriginal knowledge. Next up, she’s developing
an iOS phonics app for children.
Mark Allen
Mark will be writing
some of our regular
blog topics in
partnership with
Dawn McIlvain Stahl,
including How To,
Error of the Week,
Vocab Builder, and
In the News. He spent
25 years reporting
and editing at
newspapers in Michigan and Ohio and has been
freelancing for five years. Current clients include a
financial services corporation, an early-childhood
education website, and the author of a history book.
You can find the biographies for all our regular contributors on our About Us page.
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Copyediting | August–September 2013 05
Grammar on the edge
The Curious Case of Who
by Jonathon Owen
M
ost readers of this newsletter probably know that whom is in decline.
It’s been suffering death throes for centuries, and it will probably be centuries more
before it finally dies, if it ever does. But
as it decreases in use, speakers and writers
lose their ear for what sounds right, leading to hypercorrect forms, such as Whom
shall I say is calling? Getting the right
form isn’t very difficult, but it sometimes
takes a little analysis.
Along with the personal pronouns
(I, you, he, she, and so on), who is one of
the few words in the English language
that still take different subject and object
forms; you can see the same pattern in he/
him and they/them. A handy way to see
whether it should be who or whom is to
use one of those pronouns in its place.
However, because who(m) is an interrogative and relative pronoun, it often
moves from its default position to the
beginning of a clause or sentence. This is
called a transformation. To put he/him or
they/them in its place, we need to undo
the transformation. The default order of
a declarative clause would have I shall say
who is calling, which sounds decidedly odd,
but he fits perfectly in its place: I shall say
he is calling. He is the subject of the clause
he is calling, and when we swap in the who
and move it to the beginning of the sentence, we get Who shall I say is calling?
What trips people up about this particular construction is that there are two
verb phrases, shall say and is calling, so
it may not be immediately clear whether
who(m) is the object of shall say or the
subject of is calling. But if you can parse
the sentence or put it back in a normal
declarative order with he or him in place of
who(m), it should become apparent what
the case of who(m) should be.
Things can get trickier when dealing
with who(m)ever. In an old episode of
The Office (as discussed on Neal Whitman’s blog), several of the characters
argue about whether whoever or whomever
is correct, with various characters saying,
“Whomever is never actually right,” “It’s
a made-up word used to trick students,”
and “Actually, whomever is the formal
version of the word.” Pam notes that “it’s
whom when it’s the object of a sentence,
and who when it’s the subject,” but that
doesn’t actually help here: whoever can
appear to be both simultaneously. It’s
called a fused or nominal relative because
it serves as both a relative pronoun and
the noun phrase that the relative refers
to. In a sentence like Give this to whoever
answers the door, whoever seems to be
the object of the preposition to and the
subject of the verb answers. The normal
substitution test doesn’t work here; both
Give this to he answers the door and Give
this to him answers the door are ungrammatical. For a proper substitution, we
need two words to fill both roles: Give
this to him who answers the door.
But this still doesn’t help us decide the
case of who(m)ever; if it’s both a subject and an object, which one wins? The
usual analysis is that who(m)ever serves
a role in its subordinate clause, and that
entire subordinate clause fills a role in the
main clause. In our example, whoever is
the subject of answers the door, and the
whole clause whoever answers the door is
the object of to. Clauses aren’t marked for
case, so it stays whoever.
The truth is, though, that you may
not necessarily want to use whom or
whomever, even when they’re technically
correct. As who becomes more acceptable
as an object, whom sounds more formal
and even stilted. When in doubt, it’s usually safer to err on the side of the more
casual who than to use a hypercorrect
whom. n
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33
Senior Editor, Cooking Light Books
33
Online Editor, University of California, Berkeley
33
Writer/Editor, Society for Neuroscience
Go to our Job Board to apply for these or other great editing jobs. The Job Board is free to job seekers, and you’ll
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Copyediting | August–September 2013 06
Q
Ask the editor with Erin Brenner
M
y office’s work product is written in a reporting style requiring the frequent use of the subordinating conjunction that:
We found that the staples had jammed. As a result, that is in almost
every sentence of a 70-page report.
In editing the last report, I changed up text by using which for
things in a restrictive relative clause. I explained this edit change to
the authors, but the change threw some of them off because they
didn’t know how to judge whether the sentence needed commas.
When would I use which for things? How do I know for
sure that eliminating that in a restrictive clause will make sense to
every reader?
Margaret Campbell
It seems that you understand which can be used for restrictive
clauses and that limiting it to nonrestrictive clauses (preceded by
a comma) is just a style rule with no basis in grammar, no matter
how closely it’s followed here in the US. Getting writers to accept
it, however, is tougher.
There are cases in which you can eliminate that from a sentence. When the clause’s subject is different from the word that
the clause is referring to, you can drop that. For example, you
can write the article I was editing instead of the article that I was
editing. The subject of the clause is I, but the clause is referring
to the article.
You can also eliminate that when it introduces a subordinate
clause. Here’s an example from The American Heritage Dictionary
(AHD): I think we should try again instead of I think that we should
try again.
Be careful, though, not to eliminate that when it would cause
a miscue. This can happen when that follows words like argue,
acknowledge, ask, believe, claim, doubt, and said. Another example
from AHD: The book argues that eventually the housing supply will
increase. Without the that, we could read eventually as modifying
argues rather than will increase. Moving eventually closer to the
verb it’s meant to modify would help, as well.
I’m hoping you can shed some light on a subject that’s been confusing me for some time: AP style and the use of the serial comma.
My confusion was reinforced by the AP line of the chart you’ve
shown in “Copyediting Hot Buttons: The Serial Comma.”
The way I’m interpreting it, the foundational rule is to use the
comma, and the exception is to not use the comma in what The AP
Stylebook terms a “simple series.”
Can you please expound more fully on why the chart you
included states “No” to using commas when following AP style?
And maybe you could also speak to why the generally universal
understanding of AP style seems to contradict what is stated in
The AP Stylebook?
Renee Nelson
The AP Stylebook’s rule is to use commas to separate elements in a
series but not to include the serial comma in a simple series: I like
cake, ice cream and pie.
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That’s what most people understand. What’s less understood is
that AP has exceptions, which are meant to help the reader understand the series. We are to use the serial comma:
33In a complex series. In other words, the items are long, as
with a series of independent clauses, or already have punctuation in them. An example from the stylebook: The main
points to consider are whether the athletes are skillful enough to
compete, whether they have the stamina to endure the training,
and whether they have the proper mental attitude. Given the
length of each item in the series, the serial comma lets readers know the last item in the series is coming up.
33When one of the items in the series already has a conjunction. The serial comma tells readers which items are grouped
together, as with this AP example: I had orange juice, toast,
and ham and eggs for breakfast. Without the serial comma,
ham and eggs could be one item or two. When such a question would change the meaning of the sentence, AP wants us
to use the serial comma.
As to why the rule is so misunderstood, I think it’s just
how humans are wired. We look for shortcuts to make our
work easier, and it’s easy to memorize “Don’t use the serial
comma.” It’s harder to remember the finer details. If the
writers and editors using the stylebook don’t look up the
rule, they won’t be reminded of the exceptions. This is especially understandable when you’re as overworked as so many
journalists are.
I’m increasingly having to swat away CAPEX from a lot of copy
I’ve been editing. In my view, this is a crude and needless abbreviation for “capital expenditure” with no place in formal writing.
But have I become out of step on this? AHD lists it, but I haven’t
found much other guidance, which I’ve taken to mean that it
shouldn’t be used.
Joseph Priest
Corporate Writer
Syniverse Technologies
As crude and needless as CAPEX may seem, it is a standard abbreviation for “capital expenditure.” But context matters.
AHD seems to be the exception among the major general dictionaries in listing CAPEX. The term is listed frequently, however,
in business dictionaries and glossaries, such as Webster’s New World
Finance and Investment Dictionary, the Bloomberg Financial
Glossary, and Investopedia.
A search in Google Books returns 726 results (at least the
first three pages of which are all business books), while the
Corpus of Contemporary American English returns just two,
one from American Spectator and one from Shape magazine (this
Capex is a shampoo).
Given this, I’d relegate CAPEX to business copy only, and
then I’d try to keep it just to financial topics. It’s clearly used for a
general audience only sparingly, if at all. The AP Stylebook advises
using it only in direct quotes in business stories. n
Copyediting | August–September 2013 07
resources
Six Time Management Tips That Copyeditors Need
by Brian Spero
F
or copyeditors, time is forever running
short. It seems to be swallowed up
whole, leaving us fighting to stay organized and on deadline. If you struggle
to keep pace with your demanding work
schedule, no matter how many extra hours
you put in, consider these strategies to
reinvent your time management system.
Keep a Calendar
Your first step toward better time management is to keep a composite calendar
of your weekly and monthly events and
activities, including anything that affects
your availability.
Use a cloud-based organizer, such as
Google Calendar, that you can access on
any device with Internet access. The easyto-use format will help you break through
those first few weeks of implementing this
strategy while establishing a rhythm that
will soon keep productivity humming.
Create a Daily Plan
In addition to creating a master calendar,
make a list of things that require attention. Keep it handy, adding and crossing
off items as they come up or are accomplished, always moving tasks with the
highest priority to the top.
At the end of the day, reassess your list
to make the appropriate adjustments and
leave it in full view for the next morning.
Greet it each day with purpose and enthusiasm. Often, the biggest enemy of time
management is procrastination; a clear
battle plan staring you in the face should
give you the direction and inspiration you
need to dive into your day’s work.
Organize Your Time and Space
Thoughtfully organizing your workspace
for optimal efficiency can save you lots of
time otherwise spent on searching and
dealing with distractions. Whether you
are in a home office or on a floor full
of cubicles, arrange everything you need
within arm’s reach. Use digital tools to
ensure that all of your contacts, communications, resources, and files are only a click
away (see “Use Technology,” below).
WWW.COPYEDITING.COM
You should also analyze how your
typical workday unfolds. Consider when
you are most and least productive, arranging your schedule in a way that optimizes
your time. If you typically need an hour
in the morning to clear your head before
editing, make the morning your time to
return emails and calls or perform clerical
tasks. During the part of the day when
you are most prolific, hang the “Do Not
Disturb” sign up, put your head down,
and let the creative juices flow.
Delegate
Many copyeditors respond to pressure by
taking on more tasks. Whether you work
as part of a team or you lead one, capitalize on the skills, strengths, and support of
your group. Strive to surround yourself
with people you can count on to respond
appropriately to periods of demand, as
well as to criticism.
Don’t fall into to the trap of doing
people’s work for them. You already
have enough to do without doing other
people’s work as well. By making it policy
to rectify recurring issues, you’ll save time
and develop more-productive relationships
with your colleagues. Create a clear and
meticulous set of rules and hold everyone
accountable to them.
Keep Contact Brief
Contact with colleagues and clients is
necessary but can become your biggest
time management issue. In the age of
never-ending meetings, you must emphasize strict schedules and time limits, inviting only those people who are necessary
to the meeting. By doing so, you create
a culture of action, in which individuals understand that they are expected to
ensure their agendas are addressed before
the allotted time expires.
In addition to running brief meetings, make all of your communications
efficient, whether it’s a phone call, an
email, or even a pop-up chat session.
Set the tone by getting right to the
point, giving incoming queries a prompt
response. By sending the message that
your time is important, you’ll find that
people will show more respect when asking you to share that valuable commodity
with them.
Use Technology
Adopt applications and platforms designed
to improve organization and project management. A system such as Basecamp can
provide the structure needed for working with a remote staff. It’s one of many
software platforms designed to help track
projects, discussions, files, and events in a
single space.
For nearly every task, there’s affordable software that improves efficiency.
If keeping tabs on aspects of a social
media campaign falls to you, something
like HootSuite will help you manage
multiple networks, review content, and
schedule postings.
For organized accounting and invoicing, look to a provider such as FreshBooks, which offers basic free services for
up to three clients and a 30-day trial. It
also has a widget that helps you track and
analyze the time you spend on individual
projects.
There are even apps dedicated specifically to time management, like RescueTime. It’s designed to spot inefficiencies
in your day, reveal how you spend time on
the computer, and identify ways to make
improvements.
Final Thoughts
Time management is an essential attribute to a more successful career and
rewarding lifestyle. By bringing structure
and organization to your work schedule,
valuing your time, delegating responsibility, and using modern efficiency
tools, you can vanquish the enemies of
time while becoming a more productive
copyeditor.
Brian Spero is an editor and contributor for the finance and business blog Money
Crashers Personal Finance. In his spare
time, whenever he can make it, he enjoys
traveling, surfing, and trying new foods. n
Copyediting | August–September 2013 08
Currents
Editing Material That Uses Biased or Offensive Terms
by Mark Farrell
S
ome years ago, I did seasonal work
as a production editor for a research
journal. I had read an article in the
Washington Post regarding a trend toward
using the term Latino in place of Hispanic. In a weekly meeting with the
journal’s production staff, I brought up
the possibility of changing the in-house
style guide to reflect this recent trend to
keep the publication’s image in step with
changing usage. My idea was shot down,
misconstrued as being overly sensitive and
politically correct.
Most style guides strive to keep up with
the times, but in light of the often-rapid
changes in sensitive terminology, what
should we copyeditors do when we come
across a term that might be considered
offensive or inappropriate?
One option is to query the author.
Anne Ketchen, a freelance editor from
Carlisle, Massachusetts, wrote in an email
to me that the query should suggest an
alternative way of wording the passage.
Edward Batchelder, an editor living in
Athens, Greece, questioned whether changing the terms used has an effect on the way
people think about a particular subject.
“I saw this very clearly in graduate
school—the absolute conviction that by
changing language you could change
people’s consciousness, rather than a
common-sense understanding that words
have positive or negative connotations
based on people’s feelings about the thing
the word stands for,” Batchelder wrote in
an email to me. “Deciding, for example,
that manic-depressive is pejorative and
should be replaced with bipolar does nothing to change people’s underlying attitudes
toward mental illness; once everyone starts
using bipolar, it will have just the same
pejorative effect as the original term.”
Batchelder was quick to point out that
his doubts about the effectiveness of changing terms doesn’t mean that he ignores
sensitive material while wearing his editor’s
hat. For example, when one client, a medical software firm, was prone to identifying
doctors with male pronouns and nurses
with female pronouns in its computer
manuals, he “rewrote and changed all gender references so they were neutral, with no
objection from the company.”
James Libbey, an editor from Frederick,
Maryland, who works with federal government contract proposals, is sensitive to anything that could be considered offensive.
“I always either change the material in
question or query it,” Libbey wrote in an
email to me. “If I’m working with a federal
client that is familiar with my editing, then
I’ll go ahead and just change the text as
necessary to be more politically correct or
less offensive. If the word or phrase seems
to be pervasive in its use throughout a
document, then I point out the fact that
I changed it and the reason why. On the
other hand, if my duties on a particular
document are limited to a quality-control
read or a light proofread, then I query the
issue and suggest alternatives.”
The issue can extend to editors of
authors writing in other eras. “Scholars
steeped in historical material may inadvertently use language in a way that is considered offensive by contemporary standards.
It’s the editor’s job to at least query it,”
wrote Batchelder. Using the find-and-replace function
when searching for potentially offensive
terms has its hazards, as Batchelder discovered when the term African American
began to win favor over black. “I picked
up my local newspaper in Boston and read
about a business that was, after several
years of running in the red, now running
successfully in the African American,”
Batchelder wrote.
And there isn’t a one-size-fits-all
solution, as Joe Gawel, an editor from St.
Augustine, Florida, notes. He recently left
the term blacks in a British research paper
he was editing. He couldn’t use African
American, but he also wasn’t aware of any
suitable replacements, such as African Brits.
The best solution, then, is to add a
global query for all potentially offensive
terms and let the author correct them
individually. By so doing, you have fulfilled
your responsibility as an editor without
introducing any complications. n
Copyeditor by the Numbers
This newsletter and The Chicago of Manual of Style notwithstanding, copy editor is still the more popular term.
copyeditor
100
All
copy editor
354
52
United
States
Canada
Great Britain
WWW.COPYEDITING.COM
168
23
52
11
31
Source: Global Web-Based English Corpus
Copyediting | August–September 2013 09
TECHNICALLY SPEAKING
Best Practices for Copyediting the Web
by Erin Brenner
W
hen I started editing web copy, the web was new, and
there wasn’t a lot of guidance for copyeditors to follow.
We pretty much made it up as we went along, with a little help
from the likes of Wired Style.
Today there’s so much information on writing and editing for
the web that it’s difficult to know what to trust or where to start.
In many situations, a copyeditor has three main tasks to complete:
edit the copy, enter it into the publishing system, and help promote the copy through search engine optimization (SEO). What
follows are best practices for new and veteran web copyeditors.
Edit the Web Copy
Good web copy starts with good writing. When working on copy
for the web, employ all your usual copyediting skills. Grammar,
usage, and spelling still count.
But just as the principles for good academic writing are not
the same as those for good fiction writing, web writing has its
own principles for you to follow. They’re based on how we read
online and the potential for a worldwide audience.
Here are a handful of tips to get you started:
33Use short sentences and paragraphs.
33Put the most important information up front.
33Use headers, lists, and graphics to guide readers through
the story.
33Eliminate unnecessary words.
33Focus on visual appeal as much as content.
WWW.COPYEDITING.COM
TIP:
Check out The Yahoo! Style Guide for a thorough
explanation of how to write for the web.
Eye-scanning studies and other measures have shown that we
skim and scan online text. Reading online is notoriously hard on
our eyes. Often, we’re just looking for information and want to
move on quickly; though there are exceptions to that generality,
the exceptions are not usually text-heavy pages. And the competition is fierce. An alternative site is only a click away.
All this leads to techniques like front-loading the information; breaking the information down into smaller chunks, such as
shorter paragraphs and bulleted lists; and giving readers guideposts like subheads throughout longer articles, which is common
in other media as well.
Many sites have a broader audience than they would in print,
and they can try to meet that broader audience’s needs. But not all
do. Determine with your supervisor or author who the audience is
and what their online reading habits are, at least for your site.
Though there is much more to web writing style, if you keep
Yahoo’s three basic principles in mind, you’ll be well on your way:
33Keep it short.
33Front-load your content.
33Keep it simple.
C ONTINUE D ON PAGE 1 1
Copyediting | August–September 2013 10
C ONTINUE D F ROM PAGE 1 0
Make Nice with Your CMS
You might work on web copy in a familiar program like Word,
but it’s likely that you’ll have to load the copy into a content
management system (CMS) or even edit right in one. Become
familiar with how your system works; you’ll speed your editing
time and ensure that copy publishes the way you intend it to.
Most of the CMSs I’ve worked in allow you to work on copy
in a “what you see is what you get” (WYSIWYG) format that
offers familiar word processing tools. Sometimes, though, that
view hides more problems than it solves.
For example, Word puts a lot of hidden code in your files that
can copy with the text. If the original copy has been loaded from
Word, it will have a lot of unnecessary coding with it. Switching to
an HTML view allows you to find these problems and fix them.
TIP:
Learn at least some basic HTML to fix simple
coding problems. W3Schools’s free online training lets
you practice your code and see the results right away.
Better still, if you receive copy via the CMS, edit it in Word.
You’ll be able to use the timesaving techniques and tools you’re
more comfortable with, as well as create a paper trail of your
edits. Just remember to paste the copy back into the CMS using
a technique that eliminates Word’s hidden coding.
TIP:
Some CMSs have functions that will strip out
Word’s excess coding when copy is pasted into the
system.
Labels differ from CMS to CMS. WordPress, which I use
for my website, has boxes labeled Excerpt, Meta Description,
and Meta Keywords, while Drupal, which Copyediting uses for
its blog, has boxes labeled Abstract, Description, and Keywords. WordPress’s Keywords are Drupal’s Vocabularies.
Make sure you know what each box is for and where its contents
appear on the site and in search engines.
Whenever you work in a CMS, whether you’re uploading
copy or editing it, be sure to save often. Even if your Internet
connection is stable, the CMS host’s may not be. This is another
good reason for editing in Word first.
Practice Good SEO Habits
SEO is a technique for trying to get webpages to rank high in
search engine results. Some copyeditors view SEO as distasteful
because they think promoting the webpage is more important
than the words on the page.
But when SEO is done right, nothing is further from the
truth. Well-written copy is still a page’s most valuable asset. Good
SEO might put a webpage at the top of a results page, but if
the webpage is gibberish, readers will click away from it quickly.
Worse than being invisible, the page is building a reputation
WWW.COPYEDITING.COM
for being unhelpful. And because search engines work hard
to improve the results they display, it’s in their best interest to
return results that their users want.
This is where copyeditors come in.
We’re used to promotion being someone else’s job, but we
cringe when the promoters don’t really understand what they’re
promoting. (Just think of all the inaccurate dust-jacket copy
you’ve read.) Copyeditors are in the right place at the right time
to help promote web copy.
Those boxes we talked about above (Description, Keywords, etc.) help readers find the webpage—through both the
search engines and your website. Fill in as many of those boxes as
you can, using the keywords for the page.
TIP:
Determine with your supervisor or client what
keywords are important for the site overall, and for
the current page in particular, so you can incorporate
them wisely.
Titles are also an important part of SEO. They should be
both search-engine and reader friendly. A good SEO title tells
readers what the page is about and uses keywords to tell the
search engines what the page is about. Descriptive titles are better than clever ones; it’s likely that your titles will appear out of
context years from now and the cleverness will be lost. The right
title will help readers determine if they want to click through to
read the page.
Finally, be sure to include alternative text in pictures and
links. It’s good for both your readers and the search engines. For
your readers, the alternative text will show up when a picture is
broken and will be used by text readers for the visually impaired.
The search engines will use alternative text to help determine your
page’s rankings, so again, make sure the text includes keywords to
help the search engines and, later, the search engine users.
For more basic information on SEO, check out “SEO
Basics: 8 Essentials When Optimizing Your Site” and
Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.
Web publishing has changed the copyeditor’s job, adding
responsibilities to
our already long
list and forcing us
to think beyond
the words in
front of us. Web
publishing isn’t
going away and
will likely affect
more copyeditors as time goes
on. Following
these tips and best
practices will help
you succeed in this
medium. n
Copyediting | August–September 2013 11
Copyediting:
Because Language Matters
Vol. 26, No. 5
August–September 2013
Editor
Erin Brenner
Contributing Editors
Mark Farrell
Norm Goldstein
Paul R. Martin
Katharine O’Moore-Klopf
Jonathon Owen
Mark Peters
Daniel Sosnoski
Cartoonist
Sage Stossel
Copyeditors
Andrew Johnson
Christine Parizo
Nancy Paschke
Editorial Advisory Board
Susan L. Blair,
Time (retired)
Bryan A. Garner,
LawProse Inc.
Cheryl Iverson,
JAMA/Archives
Paul R. Martin,
The Wall Street Journal
Anne McCoy,
Columbia University Press
Martha Spaulding,
Harvard Business Review
Carl Sessions Stepp,
American Journalism Review,
University of Maryland
at College Park
Barbara Wallraff,
Copyediting editor emeritus
Bill Walsh,
The Washington Post
VP/Digital Businesses
Kyle Crafton
Art Director
Mary Winters
Product Specialist
Amy Gilbert
How to reach Copyediting
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Copyediting is published
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All rights reserved.
Reproduction without prior
permission is prohibited.
ISSN 1049-3190
Copyright © 2013 by
McMurry/TMG, LLC.
word resource roundup
America’s Raw Regional Language by Mark Peters
T
Flipping through DARE is like traveling across
he United States is a huge country with
America, though far more affordable. There are
huge variations in language. From sea to
amusing, euphemistic exclamations, such as Son of a
shining sea, words and idioms shift with the
birch! There are reduplicative words, such as willipuslandscape. Since 1963, the Dictionary of Ameriwallipus (a type of bogeyman). There are amusing
can Regional English (DARE) has documented
phrases for imaginary objects, such as whim-wham
regional terms. Even if you don’t know split beans
for a goose’s bridle. Best of all, the dictionary lets you
from coffee, to use an idiom collected in DARE,
know where and when the terms have been used.
you’ll enjoy sampling the creativity of regional
DARE recently had a financial scare that
American English.
almost resulted in its demise; fortunately, a flurry of
DARE’s foundation is fieldwork. Under the
grants and donations allowed this unique dictionary
supervision of the original chief editor, Frederic
to stay alive.
Cassidy, students surveyed the entire country, accuThe dictionary will soon be more accessible than
mulating a treasure of lexical data. The volumes
ever. Harvard Press is launching a digital edition
gradually appeared over the years, finally reaching
later this year. Until then, you should consider buycompletion in 2012 under the direction of longing hard copies and following DARE on Twitter,
time and current chief editor Joan Hall. Besides
where I recently learned a summer complaint is “a
pleasing word nerds, DARE has proven practical in
summer vacationer, especially an annoying one.”
surprising areas: for example, it was famously used
With DARE in your library, you’ll never complain
by law-enforcement agencies to help pinpoint the
home region of the Unabomber.
It's Wet Outabout
Here a lack of vibrant, clever words. n
by Myles Mellor
The Crossword
by Myles Mellor
Across
1. Brewski
5. Orange juice factor
9. Bow
13. Certain surgeon’s
“patient”
14. Celebes beast
15. Anoint
16. Romantic setting
17. Dock
18. Carpentry grooves
19. Come down hard
22. Cleaning cabinet
supplies
23. Absorbed, as a cost
24. Yugoslavia, now
28. Plant fuel
32. 86 is a high one
33. Aspersion
35. Not just “a”
36. Pot of gold site?
40. Golf term
41. Quite a stretch
(var.)
42. Seize forcibly (old
word)
43. Indiana town
46. Finn’s friend
47. 1969 Peace Prize
grp.
48. The Amish, e.g.
50. 1952 musical
58. Convex molding
59. Music genre
60. Annul
61. Locks up
62. Fashion
63. Auction cry
64. Bow
65. Increase, with up
66. “Trick” joint
1
2
3
4
5
6
1. Ado
2. “Major” animal
3. Kosher ___
4. Caught in the act
5. Yellow fruit
6. Bind
7. Fertile soil
8. Legal prefix
9. Wreath for the head
10. Completely fix
11. Blockage
12. Pianist, Dame Myra
15. Build on
20. Precipice
21. Lagos currency
24. Hex
25. It’s a Wonderful
8
9
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
24
25
26
20
21
22
23
27
28
32
33
34
37
38
40
41
42
43
44
50
51
10
11
12
29
30
31
56
57
35
36
39
46
45
47
Down
7
48
52
49
53
54
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
Life role
38. About to explode
Across
26. Isuzu model
39. “What’s ___?”
27.
stink!”
44. Pooh’s pal
Brewski
1. “You
28. Make, as a CD
45. Hodgepodges
5. Orange juice factor
29. Cornered
46. Drag
Bowrudely, in
9. Treat
30.
48. Condescending
a way
one
13. Certain surgeon's "patient"
31. Ratty place
49. Chopin piece
Celebes beast
14.Abandon
33.
50. Hit
34.
51. “Terrible” czar
Anointuncle
15.Seinfeld
37. Claw
52. Canceled
55
53. Doctrines
Down
54. Dry biscuit
55. Soon, to1.
a bard
Ado
56. Doing nothing
2. "Major"
57. Central point
animal
3.
Kosher ___
4.
Caught in the act
5.
Yellow fruit
6.
Bind
16. Romantic setting
7.
Fertile soil
17. Dock
8.
Legal prefix
18. Carpentry grooves
9.
Wreath for the head
For answers, go to www.copyediting.com/crossword-answer
WWW.COPYEDITING.COM
19. Come down hard
Copyediting | August–September 2013 12
10. Completely fix