Grammar Geek

I'm re-reading William Zinsser's On Writing Well. It's full of good reminders, such as:

"Prune out the small words that qualify how you feel and how you think and what you saw: 'a bit,' 'a little,' 'sort of,' 'kind of,' 'rather,' 'quite,' 'very,' 'too,' 'pretty much,' 'in a sense' and dozens more. They dilute your style and your persuasiveness.

Don't say you were a bit confused and sort of tired and a little depressed and somewhat annoyed. Be confused. Be tired. Be depressed. Be annoyed. Don't hedge your prose with little timidities. Good writing is lean and confident.

Don't say you weren't too happy because the hotel was pretty expensive. Say you weren't happy because the hotel was expensive. Don't tell us you were quite fortunate. How fortunate is that? Don't describe an event as rather spectacular or very awesome. Words like "spectacular" and "awesome" don't submit to measurement. 'Very' is a useful word to achieve emphasis, but far more often it's clutter. There's no need to call someone very methodical. Either he is methodical or he isn't.

The larger point is one of authority. Every little qualifier whittles away some fraction of the reader's trust. Readers want a writer who believes in himself and in what he is saying. Don't diminish that belief. Don't be kind of bold. Be bold" (p. 71-72).

And sometimes Zinsser is just plain amusing. About the exclamation mark, he writes:

"Don't use it unless you must to achieve a certain effect. It has a gushy aura, the breathless excitement of a debutante commenting on an event that was exciting only to her: 'Daddy says I must have had too much champagne!' 'But honestly, I could have danced all night!'" (p. 72).

Last week I attended an EAC copyediting seminar that brought out my inner grammar geek and made me want to read more about writing, editing, and grammar. My favourite writing guide during my undergrad was Strunk and White's The Elements of Style. During my stint as a Teaching Assistant and tutor, I found Diana Hacker's A Canadian Writer's Reference indispensable. Does anyone have further recommendations?

What's happening to women's rights in NB?

New Brunswick is the only province in Canada that does not pay for abortions performed in clinics. This violates the Canada Health Act, and the former Liberal government even threatened to withhold health funding to the province. (I'm not sure if the current government would make the same threat.) The Fredericton hospital recently announced that it will stop performing abortions on July 1st, which means that women needing an abortion will either have to travel outside of the province or pay out of their own pockets to go to a private clinic. Not great options...

Here's the original CBC article and an update from today with Health Minister Brad Green stating that he is looking into the issue. Michelle also posted a very eloquent blog entry on the subject.

The Plight of Sessionals

Piecework Professors: An interesting article over at the Tyee on some important issues facing Canadian universities. I was pretty shocked to learn more and more about the realities of sessional work and academic careers while completing my MA, and I'm glad people are starting to speak up about these issues outside the academy.

Da Vinci Code

I saw the Da Vinci Code last night. Negative reviews had me expecting a god-awful film, but instead I found it simply mediocre.

Audrey Tautou's role as Sophie Neveu is definitely not one that will be complimentary to her career, in my opinion. (She's much better suited to whimsical scenes like those from Amélie or the storybook princess scene from Les Poupées Russes.) But it was almost worth seeing the film just to watch her instigate a car chase by wildly charging her Smart car up a Paris street in reverse.

As for Tom Hanks, I had too hard a time disassociating him from roles in sleepy romantic comedies like You've Got Mail and Sleepless in Seattle to find him very convincing as Robert Langdon. He's a little too fuzzy around the edges as an actor for my tastes.

Those Gilmore Girls

Writing about the Gilmore Girls on PopMatters.

A Sample of Montreal Nightlife

The A GoGo Lounge on St Laurent.

Lie With Me

Review of Lie With Me up on PopMatters.