books, books, books
With "The Elephants of Style" off to the printer and headed for bookstores in a little over a month, I redesigned my navigation bar (LAPSING INTO A COMMA gives way to MY BOOKS) to reflect changes here and here. I added "Elephants" to The Book Slot and, sporting fellow that I am, also added links to two big-time competitors with releases scheduled for the same time. Oh, and you can see the final version of the book jacket (warning: large PDF file).
Added the week of Nov. 30, 2003
in defense of '10 items or less'
Rage against the long lines, not the express-lane signs, even if you are taller than me.
Added the week of Nov. 23, 2003
potpourri
What's wrong with the Macy's Day Parade, Indira Ghandi, vicious cycles, the National Organization of Women, a hot dog-eating contest, getting something for free or being home-free?
Added the week of Oct. 19, 2003
an affectionate (uh, right, Phil?) spoof
A fellow member of the World Wide Web-copy-editing-celebrity community sends up The Slot.
Added the week of Oct. 5, 2003
for the record
One not-so-exciting headline gets me all excited.
Added the week of Sept. 21, 2003
elephants
McGraw-Hill's new catalog is out. Usually that isn't such a big event for me.
overage
Do you really hate over that much? And what's so great about "during"?
Added the week of July 27, 2003
staying on topic
The search function on the main page is now vastly improved. I discovered belatedly that Atomz's defaults included case sensitivity and "sound-alike matching," and so I've removed those features. I also segregated The Slot from my more personal ramblings, so now a search for "colon" is less likely to yield color commentary on any endoscopy procedures I may have undergone.
sigh-fi
Did you see "Star Wars" this week? No, you didn't!.
Added the week of April 28, 2002
getting "with" it
Don't use within when you mean in.
Added the week of April 14, 2002
department of redundancy department
Finally, someone has noticed that those suicide bombers are committing homicide .
Added the week of Feb. 17, 2002
click
Another off-topic intrusion, I'm afraid: I've added My Capitol Hill, a photographic tour of my neighborhood, to my Web empire.
Added the week of Feb. 10, 2002
a navigation change
For a long time I resisted adding the navigation bar I use at the top of all other pages on this site to the main page, even when self-appointed experts told me how stupid I was being. Nobody has mentioned the subject recently, but suddenly I'm thinking the navigation bar belongs there. So there it is. Maybe someday I'll think about making the background color consistent.
Who's Uncle Harry?
Specificity in writing is a good thing, but sometimes it's used just to be cute.
a book review
From the Copy Editor newsletter, my review of the new AP Stylebook.
Added the week of Sept. 16, 2001
journalistic triage
On the really big stories, copy editing is often marginalized.
Added the week of Sept. 9, 2001
back to the blog
A Web log called The Spin (tennis commentary) joins Off-Topic (criticism at large) as I devote more attention to "blogging." No complaints, please: I will stipulate from the start that these avenues are only for those who really give a damn about what I think.
Added the week of July 29, 2001
effecting an ill-advised change Impact isn't a verb, but it's a perfectly good noun.
Added the week of July 15, 2001
smoothe operators and soothesayers Smooth stays smooth, even as a verb.
Added the week of June 24, 2001
by-gones
A byline without a "By" is like a story without an editor.
Added the week of June 10, 2001
a milestone
The Slot's mailing list gained its 1,000th member.
Added the week of April 29, 2001
What about Byorn Borg and John MacEnroe?
Dear Wall Street Journal: Who the heck is Jimmy Conners?
hello, technology
A week after its excellent story on drugs in Hollywood, Entertainment Weekly gets hi.
stamp out stylebook abuse
A Sharp Point: Please read stylebook entries in context.
Added the week of Feb. 11, 2001
headline writer screwed by headline writer
A glowing (that's the standard adjective, right?) review of yours truly's book is spoiled by a headline writer, of all people.
Cliffs Notes
Not Cliff Notes -- or Cliffs Note, or Cliff Note, or Licffs Etson. An exasperated Carets and Sticks entry.
Techie McTech
That would be the star of a new Carets and Sticks entry.
Added the week of Feb. 4, 2001
points that aren't quite as sharp Carets and Sticks joins Sharp Points as a venue for new content on the site. As with Sharp Points, Carets items will appear in the main window on the home page and be archived on their own page. These will be brief thoughts rather than full-fledged rants.
in search of . . .
The Slot is now searchable, thanks to Atomz. You'll find the search box on the home page. (For better or worse, this search covers all pages in the Bill Walsh oeuvre.)
Added the week of Dec. 24, 2000
at Agriculture, the boss is the secretary of agriculture
As George Quincy Bush picks his Cabinet, I offer a slightly tricky lesson in capitalization.
a new sponsor, you might say
I discovered PayPal when my wife was still my girlfriend and we didn't have a joint bank account. We were wired to the hilt, but when it came time for one of us to settle up with the other for the mortgage payment or whatever, that meant writing a check and taking it to the bank. For some reason, banks process checks free but charge fees for a much simpler account-to-account transfer. Enter PayPal, which allows you to send money by e-mail -- free. That comes in handy on eBay. Not only that: PayPal has a generous incentive program. Register (again, it's free) and you and I each get $5. Tell a friend, and you and the friend each get $5. And so on, and so on . . .
added . . . and subtracted
Good news: The book is out. Go to Amazon.com to order a copy or three. Bad news: My contract restricts my on-line use of material that appears in the book, so the site is a tad slimmer today. But you can build it back up by asking good questions! Read on.
Added the week of April 9, 2000
wedding pictures
Sorry. Ignore this if you're not interested, but if you are you'll find one on my personal page and more on my wife's evolving official wedding site. You can also read dispatches from the wedding trip at my Las Vegas site.
a redesign
It's just the home page for now, but eventually the entire site will take on a more modern, less cheesy look. Special thanks go out to Jacqueline Dupree, who envisioned the Warhol-esque "About the Author" icon and contributed a wealth of other ideas both technical and artistic.
the bookstore grows The Book Slot expands beyond stylebooks to include dictionaries, language-maven books and more. Heck, order all your books, music, toys and electronics through this link!
The year 2000 revisited
I re-emphasize a SHARP POINT about the "millennium" issue, pointing out that there's a middle ground between spoilsport-purist and ignorant lemming.
The Book Slot
More commercialism, just in time for the holidays! The Book Slot soon will enable you to order my book, "Lapsing Into a Comma," and other usage manuals and dictionaries, but for now it's a great source for stylebooks.
Added the week of Oct. 31, 1999
It's All About the Abrahams
A little writing that's not about editing -- a tongue-in-cheek but almost 100 percent factual account of my recent trip to Las Vegas. Please forgive this interruption.
