Readability

FONT-HAPPY -- Computers provide hundreds of different fonts to choose from and many printers are able to cope with these fonts. But just because you can, does not necessarily mean that you should. Those of us who remember manual typewriters know that you had a choice of two fonts, pica or elite. You made the choice when you bought the machine, and that was it forever. Later, IBM came up with the Selectric, which had interchangeable ball-shaped elements, which provided a wider range of fonts, but still limited.
   Now, writers can select fonts that range from the merely odd and strange to the downright unreadable, even if the recipient's computer can reproduce the chosen font. We are able to spot a word that is misspelled because we are able to identify the individual letters in the word.  The combination of recognizable letters make up the words that we recognize. Thus, if we cannot recognize the letters, we cannot recognize the word, and we cannot read the message. Those who use these curious fonts need to ask themselves which is more important, the medium or the message.
   Typographical gimmickry goes only so far, and a little goes a long way.

GADGETS -- We encountered a driver recently who was so intent on following the directions given by his GPS system that he passed right by his destination, even though there was a prominent sign in front of the building. Not only that, but the GPS sent the driver on a three-mile roundabout route even though the destination was only half a mile from his starting point -- and on the same street. The episode reminded me of the compulsive use of spellcheck, which recognizes individual words, but not context. Technology provides many useful tools, but we need to remember that they remain just that -- tools, not substitutes.

MISLEADING PHRASE -- Advertising writers are fond of words and phrases that sound good, but are essentially meaningless. Example: The packaged food made from "farm-picked ingredients." All food ingredients come from farms, where they are picked. Unless, of course, the ingredients were concocted in a chemistry lab somewhere.

OPINING -- Someone once said that people are entitled to their own opinions, but not to their own facts. But it's also true that opinions are often based on a selection of available facts. Propagandists, advertising writers and politicians often select those facts that buttress their previously conceived opinions, and ignore those facts that might erode their positions.

The Power of Twelve

There are:
12 inches in a foot
12 months in a year
12 times 2 = 24 hours in a day
12 times 5 = 60 minutes in an hour
12 times 30 = 360 degrees in a circle
12 times 10 = 120 beats per minute, the standard military marching pace
12 times 10 = 120, the optimum systolic blood pressure
12 volts in automobile electrical systems
12 was the base for early mathematics

There are also:
12 grades in the American school system
12 signs of the zodiac
12 items in a dozen
12 pence in a shilling
12 people on a jury
12 tribes of Israel
12 apostles in Christianity, which borrowed the idea from
12 apostles in Mithraism
12 days to the Christmas season, from Yule to Epiphany
12  parts to the Boy Scout Law (Trustworthy, loyal, etc.)
12 steps to humility (St. Benedict, 520 A.D.)
12 steps of pride (St. Bernard of Clairveaux, 1130 A.D.)
12 steps to sobriety (Bill Miller, founder of AA, 1937)
12 original Bill of Rights Amendments to the U.S. Constitution
 -- Proposed in 1789, in force by 1791
--  Proposed amendments One and Two were not ratified promptly, so Three through Twelve became the Bill of Rights as we know it today
-- Proposed Amendment One was ratified in 1992 as Amendment 27, concerning Congressional pay hikes
-- Connecticut, Massachusetts, Georgia did not ratify the Bill of Rights until 1939.

Sentenced

HOW LONG -- Through the 19th Century, writers believed in the challenge of being able to keep a sentence under control regardless of length. Henry James, for example, typically wrote sentences ranging well above 100 words. And the opening of John Milton's "Paradise Lost" rambled all the way to 157 words, including 17 commas. The problem is that modern readers have no patience or desire to wade through those murky waters, all the while keeping track of the pertinent thought beneath the surface. This is particularly true of questions. Consider this one, from the New York Times, March 9, 2011:

   "Is the reliance on mass-produced bikinis -- a far cry from the elaborate, hand-crafted costumes Trinidadians had grown accustomed to -- stifling the creative works that have been the hallmark of traditional Carnival, which the government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bisselsar has been pressing to revive since she took office last year?"

This twists its way to 52 words, with a 14-word clause inserted between the opening phrase and the controlling verb, thus burying the key thought (Is this stifling...?). It's certainly true that in print, readers can go back and reread the sentence if they don't fully grasp it the first time. But why should they have to? Moral: Don't make them. In broadcast news writing, you only get one chance to get your message across. Apply the same attitude to print.

(I know, I need a life, doing something other than counting the number of words in a sentemce.)

NEWS ITEM 1 -- Women now outnumber men in colleges, but still lag in pay after graduation.
NEWS ITEM 2-- More men are taking apprenticeships for skilled trades, especially in computerized manufacturing and high-tech fields.
CONCLUSION -- That's why men earn more. Liberal arts degrees don't pay much, and colleges don't teach skilled trades.

Free speech

COUNTRY COUNTRAST -- The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld the right of a radical religious group to say nasty things near military funerals. In Pakistan, blasphemy gets you the death penalty, and disagreeing with radical Islamism is illegal, even if you are a Christian. On the same day of the Supreme Court ruling, a Christian cabinet minister who opposed Pakistan's blasphemy law was assassinated.

SHORT VERSION -- You have the right of free speech. I have the right to ignore you.

ATTENTION BIRTHERS -- There is no requirement that the President of the United States be a Christian. In fact, the Constitution specifically prohibits such a requirement, for any public office. That's not in the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of religion, but in the main body of the Constitution itself, in Article VI, which states, "There shall be no religious test for any office of public trust." There are many non-Christian politicians in America, including Hindus, Jews and Muslims, and that's as it should be, so that the entire population is represented. "America is a Christian nation," is the claim; (except for 6 million Jews, 5 million Muslims, 3 million Buddhists, 1.5 million Hindus, 1 million of the Baha'i faith, and 300,000 Sikh, not to mention the 2 million atheists and the 33 million who are non-religious. In addition, there are those of the Zoroastrian, Confucian, Shinto, Tao, Wiccan, and Druid spiritual paths, as well as the many in the Native American Tradition.) And if the President of the United States should happen to be a Muslim? As Colin Powell said, "So what if he is?"

SAY WHAT? -- Office technology department: "Please listen closely to the following options. If you are calling from a rotary phone, press zero."

Semantics

SUPPLY AND DEMAND -- Words don't always come on demand. Writers struggle for the best word -- the most effective word -- to convey a meaning, an image, or a message. But much also depends on the recipient -- the reader or the listener -- who brings a set of experiences, a history of beliefs and practices, which attach to a word or phrase new meanings, alternate meanings, or meanings that the writer did not intend to send or may not have thought of when framing the sentence. This is why so many domestic arguments are really about semantics, not issues.
Or, as comedian Dave Gardner put it, "What do it look like to both of us? Now we gettin' someplace."

PUNCHY -- Consider why style manuals often recommend Anglo-Saxon short verbs over polysyllabic Latin-based verbs. Multiple sounds in a single word tend to overwhelm the thought or idea the writer is trying to convey. Also, some words are construed to be more active than others. But what makes them more active? Is it that Anglo-Saxon verbs are shorter, and therefore more lithe? In sports, smaller, lighter athletes are often faster and with quicker reflexes than larger, lumbering competitors. The same may be true with words. Or it could be that on a linguistic DNA level, Latin is still a foreign language.

BASE LINES -- I went to an ophthalmologist recently, who was surprised when I pointed out that the medical term "presbyopia" was derived from the Greek for "old eyes." And years ago, I asked a dermatologist, "What do you call this indentation, or pit, on the inside of the elbow." He harrumphed a few doctor noises, and replied: "It's the antecubital fossa." After I got home, curiosity drove me to a dictionary, because I remembered that the element "ante-" meant "in front of," as in "anteroom," and that the word "cubit" was an ancient unit of measurement calculated as the distance from the wrist to the elbow. It turns out that "fossa" means "pit." So "antecubital fossa" is medical jargon for "pit in front of the elbow." Two good examples of the use of jargon, or a way to communicate with fellow members of a select group, and keep outsiders ignorant.

CLICHE CORNER -- Arctic blast, polar plunge and icy grip should all be banished from the lexicon of weather reports. Once is clever, twice is noticeable and three or more usages mean the writer has no imagination.

SHAKESPEAREAN DISSING -- Old Will was a master of the insult. Try using that fact when teaching Elizabethan drama to teenagers.

OVERHEARD -- "You're a Druid, aren't you? That's funny, you don't look Druish."

OVERHEARD, PART TWO -- "I'm going to plant pansies, but I'll do it in a manly fashion."

TRADE SECRET -- The secret of good writing is not in knowing what to put in, but in knowing what to leave out.

Press Freedom

Bill Keller, the managing editor of the NY Times, regarding the Wikileaks fallout, wrote: "A free press in a democracy can be messy. But the alternative is to give the government a veto over what its citizens are allowed to know."

 

The first thing a repressive government tries to do is to control the flow of information. This has been happening in Cairo and historically has happened in many other countries. One of the things that worry me about Sarah Palin is her almost obsessive control of her message. She communicates almost entirely through her web site, Facebook and Twitter. Her public speeches are only to friendly audiences; she takes no questions, and avoids reporters like the plague.

Blitzed

BLITZED -- Or, Sherlock Blitzer strikes again. CNN anchor: "Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut announced today he will not run for re-election next year. Here's CNN's Wolf Blitzer with a commentary. Wolf, what does this mean?"
   Blitzer: "It means that Joe Lieberman will no longer be in the Senate."

SPACED -- Farhad Manjoo posted a rant on Slate with this pronouncement: "Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong." And, he claims, "Every third e-mail I get from readers includes the two-space error," and many in the public relation profession, he adds, are among the ignorant offenders. Guess what, friend Manjoo: The point is, in fact, arguable, and is not necessarily wrong. The single-space practice began with the advent of computers and computerized typesetting. Ranter Manjoo must be of the computer generation. We geezers who learned spacing B.C. (before computers) got into the practice with manual typewriters, when a tad of extra space was helpful to readers in spotting the end of a sentence. Computers can be programmed to add a smidgen of extra space, just as the machine can automatically justify the type to align the right-hand margins, which typewriters cannot do. I guess it didn't occur to the ranter that if so many professionals disagreed with him, there might be some validity to their positions.

  COMMA-TOSE -- And as for the ranter inserting a comma after the penultimate item in a list, as he does with "totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong," that, too, is arguable. Academics say yes, newspaper usage says no. It's a matter of style, which in this case refers to consistency of usage. There is no right or wrong, it's the way any group of editors decides to do it. Another example the use of percent. Should it be one word or two, or abbreviated to pct. or substituted with the symbol %? Each is correct. Writers use whichever form the editor of a particular publication prefers.