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Grammar Girl : Writing with Slang :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™

Grammar Girl : Writing with Slang :: Quick and Dirty Tips ™

It's hip to be square. Sometimes bad is bad. Both are sentences wrought with slang and dated references to Huey Lewis songs. I'm amused, but my audience may or may not get the references.

Sal Glynn's guest article on Grammar Girl's blog reminded me to be aware of my audience, yet also validated my desire to use a bit of jargon in an upcoming post.

I stumbled across this article while seeking permission to use a word I came up with.

Writing the same phrase over & over was bugging me, so I morphed the phrase into a word I had not heard or seen before. I wasn't sure how to first mention it or if anyone had used it before. So I googled it. (Speaking of new words.) Turns out it's used in some circles, though not widespread...yet. So, I didn't coin it, but I feel clever for using it. I just didn't want to be too clever and be wrong in my usage.

After a quick serach, I found this article. I also found clarity and confirmation in using my word, which I will do soon. Stay tuned. (Ooooo....a cliff hanger.)

Breaking AP Style News: Email not E-mail

"Language evolves.Today we change AP style from e-mail to email, no hyphen. Our editors will announce it at #ACES2011 today." @APStylebook via Twitter. 

This is a first for me - seeing an AP style change announced. I happened to catch it in the Top Tweets section of Twitter on my way to check a college mascot's twitter feed (@ButlerBlue2). Cool social media moment. 

Also, I had noticed myself this week wanting to use email, not e-mail, a little connection with the editorial Zeitgeist? Hubby says he never uses a hyphen. Does that make him more in tune or less detail oriented? Wonder what most people use? 

Should You Capitalize "are" in a Title?

Little words usually aren't capitalized in a title. (Unless they are the first or last word.) That's not a quote from the Chicago Manual of Style, but it works for me. Until today.

I needed to know, for sure, if  "are" should be capitalized in a particular book title. I vaguely remember something about three-letter words not being capitalized, but I wasn't positive. So, a hunting on the net I went.  

I found a title capitalization tips page on Writers.com that cleared my confusion. It's a succinct summation of the author's journey through learning to capitalize titles. After reading it I decided "are" should be capitalized in this particular title because, though it is a little word, it is a verb.

It is not an article (a, an or the); a coordinating conjunction (and, but, or, for, nor); nor is it a preposition with four or more letters. Those would not be capitalized. 

Whew. Glad I got that cleared up, as is the rest of the world. What should I tackle next?