"Community Party" aka "Communist Party"

At some point in their lives, Scott and his wife embarked on a tour
that included the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.
After returning to their home in Maine, they co-authored a book about
their experience overseas entitled "The Brave New World".
In their book, they characterized the people of China as "peaceful socialist giants". Here is an excerpt,

"The pro-peace attitude of the people of the Soviet Union and People's
China is not based on fear of war but on confidence in their theory and
way of life. One Soviet trade unionist put the matter to us in this
way. 'We are not afraid of war. We have been through it and survived
its cruelties and horrors. We know that we can take it. Just because we
have been through it and suffered from it, we know how terrible war is.
It wastes materials, but worse than that, it squanders human idealism,
energy, wealth and life. Still worse, those of us who are trying to
build a socialist society are diverted and preoccupied by war. We know
from bitter experience that if we are to engage in socialist
construction we cannot fight wars. War is a full-time occupation."

In my research on "community party", I found
the term to be interchangeable with "Communist Party".

The Community Party- is opposed to the exploitation of people by
capital, and demands the protection of citizens from economic
mismanagement.

"Amongst the privileged class, that is the property owners, share owners
and business owners, an opinion exists that ones own welfare is
their own individual concern. Their mind senses that any single person
has the power to become rich, propertied, and therefore empowered and
less of a burden... The philosophy of the privileged class is a selfish
and bullying idea that treads on the unfortunate and weak, whilst
destroying the very fabric of our society by destroying the mutuality
that is the community. As Communists, we object to the philosophy of
the privileged class and strive to create a society that protects the
weak, helps the unfortunate, and limits the power of those that would
seek to exploit them. Our philosophy is that of the Community."

Scott Nearing was raised with many privileges (he was an alumni of the
prestigious Wharton School of Business) reserved for the
upper-class;however, Scott strongly agreed with views of the Community Party.

I'm not sure if I've been able to articulate clearly here; however, I
feel certain that the use of "Community Party" in the Nearing document
was not necessarily a mistake.

West Hawaii Today

I saw this headline on the front page of the sport's section. Unless the author intended to conjure up the image of a chain gang (which is what this headline makes me think of), I believe the idiom commonly used to indicate a difficult situation- such as the heavy burden facing the local high school football team- would be to say "tough row to hoe". In other words, the team faces a situation that is difficult to handle. ('A hard row to hoe' is the alternative form.)

Capitalization quiz

In preparation for the series of quizzes, I've revisited the Capitalization quiz and information link. I can't seem to get my mind around this rule.

The rule states:

We capitalize names of courses: Economics, Biology 101. (However, we would write: "I'm taking courses in biology and earth science this summer.")

In number nine of the quiz, this rule does not apply to "physics course." I was wondering why physics is not capitalized?

9. Didwell somehow managed to get an A in his physics course, but he failed History 104.

Would you capitalize physics if you dropped the word course?

"Didwell somehow managed to get an A in Physics, but he failed History 104."

Also, in number fifteen the word economics is not capitalized. What is the rule here?

15. Tashonda earned a master's degree in business before she went on for a Ph.D. in economics.

Editing a post

Does anyone know how to go back and edit an old post?

Chapter 8- Quotations

I decided to revisit this post because I knew that I could look at the use of quotation marks within quotations. After reviewing the paragraph, I now believe that there is an error here- more about that in a minute. On page 196 of the text, the extract indicates that copyeditors are expected peruse the document to ensure that quotation marks are properly paired. (Now back to my original point.) At the very end of the paragraph there are two sets of quotation marks, however, one is without a mate.

Am I right about this? When paragraphs are littered with punctuation things can get confusing.

"“My list of pet language peeves,” she once told The Key Reporter, the Phi Beta Kappa newsletter, “would certainly include writers’ use of indirection (i.e., slipping new information into a narrative as if the reader already knew it); confusion between restrictive and non-restrictive phrases and clauses (‘that’ goes with restrictive clauses, and, ordinarily, ‘which’ with nonrestrictive); careless repetition; and singular subjects with plural verbs and vice versa.” She was a fiend for problems of sequence and logic. In her presence, modifiers dared not dangle. She could find a solecism in a Stop sign.""

Nuns need help with editing too!

I reside in an off-campus graduate dorm run by the nuns, which poses a unique set of challenges that I won't go into here.

I've posted a small sample of the horribly written signs that plaster our common area. When I copied and pasted this into Microsoft Word, my computer editing program started to sputter.

Pay special attention to the item proceeded by **.

DECEMBER 12... 12/12/08

MARIANNE HALL

Report:

The water overflowed very badly on the 3rd floor. We collected @) 15 gallons of
water. I hope it does not happen again.

The plumbing report: In cleaning the pipes leading out of the toilet areas, there was much unwanted debris in the pipes.

1. For those who have been emptying other items into the toilets,

2. DO NOT;
A. DO NOT THROW ANY TYPE OF SANITARY PADS INTO
THE TOILET.(TAKE IT TO YOUR ROOM AND EMPTY IN YOUR TRASH)
B. DO NOT EMPTY ORDINARY PAPER IN THE TOILET.
C. DO NOT USE KLEENEX OR OTHER SOFT PAPER. THESE BECOME SWOLLEN AND CLOG THE PIPES.
D. DO NOT USE ANY CLEANING PAPER CLOTH AND DO NOT EMPTY THESE INTO THE TOILET.

EMPTY THESE INTO YOUR OWN BASKET.

2. USE;
A. USE only Toilet TISSUE PROVIDED

Last reminder: Use toilet paper -@ 8 sheets- flush; use 8 more;
continue ... so the bowl does not clog (get stuck.)

** This has to be written because there is Is/ are some who do not know how to use an American toilet. Please help us to help them.
Thank you.

Oh, yeah I should mention here that before 2008, the date of this note, it was recommended that we use only 2 squares of toilet tissue.

el-hi

el·hi adj \(ˌ)el-ˈhī\
Definition of ELHI

: of, relating to, or designed for use in grades 1 to 12
Origin of ELHI

elementary (school) + high (school)
First Known Use: circa 1948

Exercise F

Some of the answers in the answer key to exercise F seem vague to me.

For example, (lines 13, 14, and 15)

"A company that produces fewer than eight or ten titles a year is most likely a two- or-three-person operation,..."

The answer key for 14-15 indicates that a

" A Suspended compound: " two- or three-person operation." Make sure the hyphens and word spaces are indicated correctly."

Other examples included are:

The fourteen- and fifteen-year-old students attended.
Steel-plated or -cased vaults were used.

I feel like the correct answer should be a two-or-three person operation. The explanation doesn't clarify the answer to me. When I look up hyphenated compounds the only explanation that I can find says, "if it is not listed in the dictionary then there is no hyphen." There has to be a better explanation. I find this confusing.

Also, I feel unclear about lines 27- 28,

"books, computer books, gardening books, cook- books, and every stripe of how-to-books."

The answer key for line 28 states that

"Dictionaries show a hyphen in the adjective how-to, but there's no hyphen between the adjective how-to and the noun book.

and then changes "how-to-books" to "how-to book".

I am confused about the placement of the hyphens, and why the the plural form of book becomes singular in the answer key.

Orhan Pamuk

Dear Classmates,

Please feel free to edit me. I am in the class to learn what I don't know, and to establish the mistakes that I've been making all along.

I want to elaborate on the controversies that surround Orhan Pamuk, as I understand them. I would also like to provide support for the comments that I made in class about the tone of the ancillary document discussed.

Prior to his acceptance of the Nobel Prize (2006), Pamuk’s contemporaries accused him of plagiarism (2002). According to reports, certain story lines, specific paragraphs, and particular ideas found in Pamuk’s My Name is Red and The White Castle are the original works of other authors. Pamuk rebuffed the allegations, but received an eternal black eye as a result of the claims against him. Apparently, he is both loved by some and hated by many in his native country.

Orhan Pamuk was the first writer from a predominately Muslim country to win the Nobel Prize for fiction since 1988, when Naguib Mahfouz of Egypt took home the honor. After receiving this prestigious award, Pamuk was interviewed by a Swiss Newspaper. It was during this interview that litigious issues emerged. Despite Turkey’s censorship around national crimes against humanity, Pamuk made comments during his discussion with the reporter about how Turkey was responsible for the deaths of over 1 million Armenians. -The Armenian Massacre, was the premeditated and methodical destruction of the Armenian population, by the Ottoman Empire, during and immediately after World War I. (The word genocide was conceived as a result of the Armenian carnage.) The Turks ruthlessly killed over 1 million Armenians, according to historians. - Pamuk said that his country was in denial about their role in the slaughter. His efforts to air the country’s dirty laundry instigated criminal charges against the Nobel Prize winner - for "insulting" the parliament, the military, and the nationals. However, about a year later, and after much legal wrangling, the charges were dropped.

When I was reading the transcripts from the public lecture given by Pamuk, I couldn't shake the feeling that he was addressing his contemporaries in a passive-aggressive way. He spends a lot of time explaining his own process as a writer as if he is trying to defend himself against the allegations of plagiarism, for example. In the first paragraph when talking about the writer he says, “it is a person who shuts himself up in a room, sits down at a table, and alone, turns inward; amid its shadows, he builds a new world with words.” By portraying this image of being shut away from society, Pamuk suggests that he could not be influenced by outside sources because he spends his time in self-imposed confinement. The transcript, in my opinion, is littered with this circuitous oration. Pamuk uses this platform to address the well-publicized contentious issues also.

In the last paragraph he begins his ending thoughts with “A writer talks of things that everyone knows but does not know they know. To explore this knowledge, and to watch it grow, is a pleasurable thing…” Because of the suppression in Turkey about the Armenian incident, the nationals were prohibited from even considering the concept of the crimes committed on the Turkish soil during World War I. As I said earlier, it was this horrific event that prompted the international community to name the crime, “Genocide” also known as “Crimes Against Humanity.” The International Criminal Court was not in existence until after the World War II and Nuremberg, the birthplace of the Nazi party, and consequent post-war tribunals set up to address War Crimes and other crimes against humanity. So, Turkey was never held accountable for their atrocities. In his interview with the newspaper, Pamuk merely pointed out the pink elephant in Turkey’s living room. In his public lecture in 2006, as the newly crowned Nobel Prize recipient, he did it again.


On a separate note, one of my all-time favorite books is Snow by Orhan Pamuk. He is a phenomenal writer.

Today is National Punctuation Day

Hard to believe...

SOUTH BEND — If you ever wondered how much difference just one letter can make when it comes to a message, ask the thousands of people who drove by a digital billboard near the intersection of Ironwood and Indiana 23 between Thursday and Monday morning.

The ad urged people to go to the “southbendon.com” website for a look at the “15 best things about our pubic schools.” That’s right, the billboard said “pubic” instead of “public” schools. The letter “L” had been left out of the word public.

Punctuation matters too!

Lisa L. posted about when to capitalize a word; and how the meaning of a word can change depending on whether or not a capital letter is used. The same can be said about punctuation. The meaning of a sentence can be drastically altered by the arrangement of the punctuation.


Written by Richard Lederer and John Shore, "Comma Sense - A FUNdamental Guide to Punctuation," relies on humor to teach the principles of punctuation.


“‘Writing well is important for business, but it also can be crucial in love,’ the writers warn. “Do you want to say, ‘I would like to tell you that I love you. I can’t stop thinking that you are one of the prettiest women on Earth,’ or ‘I would like to tell you that I love you. I can’t. Stop thinking that you are one of the prettiest women on Earth.’? As Lederer and Shore say, ‘Punctuation can mean the difference between a second date and a restraining order.”"

More about Eleanor Gould Packard...

After reading "Grammarian, Copy Editor, Magazine Legend" by Janny Scott, I thought I would do more research on Eleanor Gould Packard.

Wow, what an amazingly gifted, focused, and dedicated, woman.

E.B White gives Eleanor credit for her for her contributions to the second edition of "The Elements of Style." (The first edition was written by William Strunk Jr.) In her obituary, which she contributed to before her death, her boss called her "indispensable."

"“My list of pet language peeves,” she once told The Key Reporter, the Phi Beta Kappa newsletter, “would certainly include writers’ use of indirection (i.e., slipping new information into a narrative as if the reader already knew it); confusion between restrictive and non-restrictive phrases and clauses (‘that’ goes with restrictive clauses, and, ordinarily, ‘which’ with nonrestrictive); careless repetition; and singular subjects with plural verbs and vice versa.” She was a fiend for problems of sequence and logic. In her presence, modifiers dared not dangle. She could find a solecism in a Stop sign.""

I stand in awe of such talent.

"Is Spelling Important?"

In light of our recent spelling test, which surprisingly stumped me repeatedly, I thought I'd post this piece. Oh yeah, and I'd get more A's in spelling if the only requirement was to put the letters provided in the correct order.

Here is an [unsigned] article which is making the e-mail circuit. It tries to prove that all of us read with a whole word approach.

"Can you raed tihs?

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid; aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.

The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

If you can raed tihs forwrad it."

Read more about this at http://www.learningbooks.net/wholeword.html

"To" vs. "Too"

I noticed an error in the second paragraph of the post "Factual queries". I've added a link that explains clearly the difference between "too", the adverb and "to", the preposition.

Here is the original post:

"I assume the copyeditor shouldn't spend to much time looking for factual errors. On the other hand, our editor sometimes recognizes errors of fact in my newsletter, for which I am very grateful!"

I was not familiar with "to" as an anaphor, so I've included that information.

To is an anaphor. Sorry! Anaphor is not commonly taught, but it’s an important use of to and one that’s often confused with too, because it can come at the end of a sentence. An anaphor is simply a word that stands in for another word or group of words.There is one type of anaphor that you’ve probably heard of: pronoun. A pronoun stands in for a noun or noun phrase. Well, pronoun is a member of the anaphor group. Yes, group: there are other words that can act as anaphors, and the particle to is one of them.

Here’s how it works:

First a phrase beginning with an infinitive appears, say:to get up early and catch the bus to the fish market

Then, there’s a reference back to it in which to stands for the entire phrase so it doesn’t all have to be repeated. In these cases, to usually ends the sentence.

Gillian plans to get up early and catch the bus to the fish market, but I certainly don’t plan to.

THIS IS NOT A DANGLING PREPOSITION! It can’t be, because it’s not a prepositional use of to!

But, because the to comes at the end of the sentence, where we are used to seeing too meaning “in addition,” we may unthinkingly substitute one for the other.

Copy Editing vs. Proofreading

Hi Pat,

Could you please differentiate between Copy Editing and Proofreading?

Cindy