Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [OM] It'sPi Day!--now Day after Pi Day!-- Mandatory list assignments

Subject: Re: [OM] It'sPi Day!--now Day after Pi Day!-- Mandatory list assignments.
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2016 23:04:01 -0700
On 3/18/2016 6:43 PM, Bob Whitmire wrote:
Weaving a wee straw man, me thinks . . . inferring what I did not imply, or
something like that. <g>

Moi???

No where did I say, or _would_ I say,

"nor"?

that a direct quote should be
changed. That is dishonesty at the highest level. And, as an editor of tens
of thousands of words of paraphrase, I am excruciatingly cognizant of
slippery slopes. Distill a three-hour city council meeting into 800 words,
for example, without paraphrasing.

Dead easy:

"BS (pure)"
"bs (idiotic)"
"(incomprehensible)"
"(comprehensible, but inapt)"
"BS (pure)"
"(comprehensible, but meaningless)"
"bs (idiotic)"
(stood up by mistake)
[repeat 100 times]

My point with Mike's line was simply how the editor in me sees a
re-crafting of the phrase. If he submitted it to me as part of a piece of
prose that was not a direct quote or a paraphrase, but rather an invention
of his very own ink-stained fingers, I _might_ first flash the cliche
warning, because if nothing else it re-words a very old saw, "Never let the
facts get in the way of a good story, ma'am." If Mike wished to proceed,
and many factors might cause him to wish to do so, most of them legitimate,
then I would suggest the re-phrasing, at which time he could take it or
leave it, depending on my authority over and responsibility for his writing.

How did Chris Barker get into your editor joke? Has anyone checked his
fingers for grime?

He's a man for risky business.

Absent further context, it's entirely possible that the "was" usage was 
correct. ;-)

Past Contextual Moose

--
What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz