University of Hawai`i Style Guide

I recently ran across the online version of the University of Hawai`i Style Guide (as opposed to the University of Hawai`i Press Style Guide) and think it is useful to look at. I was interested to see, for example, that they use Pacific Islands, Pacific Rim, Pacific Basin, but Pacific region. The guide is primarily for official communications from UH, particularly media releases that are channeled through UH Creative Services (the publications office of External Affairs and University Relations), but even if you are not writing media releases it is useful because it offers guidelines for writing about the kinds of things people in a university setting often find themselves writing about, such as grades, courses, degrees, departments, chairs, etc. And I was interested to learn that because Creative Services is concerned with media releases, they recommend the use of Webster’s New World College Dictionary, since it is Associated Press’s dictionary of choice. The guide also offers useful advice on Hawaiian spelling.

Why sign painters need copyeditors

This bin caught my eye when I was walking past the UHM Art Building. "Noncombustibal" looked wrong, but I had to look up how to spell it. I think it would make a great spelling-test word (the correct spelling is "noncombustible"). The Art Department has a lot of bins with the same lettering, so even though the artist gets a "C" for spelling, he/she gets an "A" for consistency!

Hyphenated compound

Because I wondered what other compounds would be treated like "most recent edition" (in Exercise F), I checked the Chicago Manual of Style Online (16th edition) and found that this compound comes under the rule for adverb not ending in ly + participle or adjective.

The guideline is:

Hyphenate before but not after a noun; compounds with more, most, less, least, and very usually open unless ambiguity threatens.

Examples:

a much-needed addition

it was much needed

little-understood rules

a too-easy answer

the best-known author

a lesser-paid colleague

the most efficient method

a less prolific artist

a more thorough exam

the most skilled workers (most in number)

but

the most-skilled workers (most in skill)

The Meaning of "Meaning"

Pat,

In my notes from a couple of classes ago, I wrote down four things we need to be aware of when we edit a piece: author's style, author's intention, audience, and meaning. I think you said determining meaning was more difficult than we might think.

I wonder if you or others could say a little bit more about meaning and how one goes about determining it. How is it different from intention?

Indirection

I, too, have been interested to learn about Eleanor Gould Packard. One of the most interesting things, I thought, was her abhorrence of indirection, which former New Yorker editor Harold Ross is said to have shared. I had never heard of indirection and wasn't sure what it was, but this morning I read an obituary in the Star Advertiser that I think has two good examples in the first paragraph:

"After she died this month, a frail 89-year-old alone in a flat in the British seaside town of Torquay, Eileen Nearne, her body undiscovered for several days, was listed by local officials as a candidate for what is known in Britain as a council burial, or what in the past was known as a pauper's grave."

Is this indirection? If it is, I can see why it might be annoying. (Eileen Nearne was awarded a number of medals for her work with the French resistance during World War II.)

Grammar News

The New York Times has a nice site called Grammar News, with links to articles, books, and blogs. Several items on the site are relevant to our topic of how, and how much, to edit. One in particular is “Let’s Kill All the Copy Editors” (http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/01/magazine/l-let-s-kill-all-the-copy-editors-652691.html?ref=grammar), written by a manuscript editor at a university press. It stresses that editors and authors need to learn to cooperate.

Factual queries

I am curious about the copyeditor's role, if any, in addressing factual errors as opposed to "querying factual inconsistencies" as Einsohn mentions. (I assume the author's spelling Oe's name two ways is a "factual inconsistency.") Regarding your last post, it would have taken Memminger only a minute or two to check whether the UH editor was a he or a she, but if his piece was copyedited, should the copyeditor have checked this? If you are copyediting a piece that contains URLs, should the copyeditor be checking each URL?

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!

Are copyeditors ever directed to check for factual errors, or particular kinds of factual errors under light, medium, and heavy editing?

Question about "decrees, suits and countersuits"

Pat,

I read this sentence a little differently - I read it as if "depositions and decrees" were opposed and "suits and countersuits" were opposed. A similar example might be "the ins and outs, rights and wrongs, of the situation." If they were meant to be coupled like that, would the punctuation have been right as it was?

The Glamour of Grammar

I appreciated Joaquin's list for editing one's own writing - especially "Drown Your Darlings"!

I was interested to see in the August 22 New York Times Book Review, a review of a new book--The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English, by Roy Peter Clark. I don't know anything about Roy Peter Clark, but it sounds like it might be interesting. The reviewer calls it "a grammar book for the 21st century--a little more earthy, a little more relaxed." He also says "Clark wholeheartedly endorses breaking the commandments that make no sense, as long as in the breaking, the writing still holds up." When I have more time, I think this may deserve a look.