New OED Interface

30 November 2010

The new OED online interface is up and running (sort of). My first impression is that I like it, a lot. But I’m having problems with speed (it’s crawling) and there are pages that refuse to load. I presume that this is due to unusually high traffic or other technical glitches that will be swiftly fixed. A more detailed review will be forthcoming.

The old interface will be available into 2011 to help ease the transition.

A Way With Words Podcast

30 November 2010

I usually don’t do this, but I’m going to ask for money. Not for me, but for the producers of the A Way With Words podcast. If you’re not familiar with it, you should be. Grant Barrett and Martha Barnette produce a weekly radio show and podcast on language that is fun, informative, and professional. It’s one of the highlights of my week. (I listen to quite a few podcasts—they’re great when commuting or walking the dog—and I can say that of all the shows I listen to, A Way With Words has, without a doubt, the highest production values.) The show used to be produced by a PBS radio station, but due to funding cuts at the stations is now an independent production, so they need to raise money just as if they were a public radio station.

So if you’re in a position to part with a few dollars, please click on the link to find out how. If you’re not, start listening to the show and then give it a review in iTunes or whatever podcasting service you use so that others can more easily find it. 

Spelling Reform Silliness

30 November 2010

Linguist Dennis Baron has a post on the OUP Blog on why efforts at spelling reform are just plain futile, and silly. I have mixed feelings about linking to this. While Dr. Baron is quite right, the efforts of organizations like the English Spelling Society don’t have a hope in hell of actually succeeding. They’re a bunch of harmless cranks. Spilling more ink on the subject of spelling reform just gives them legitimacy. Then again, Dennis’s tone is spot on. Derision is a good cure for cranks.

Reading for Style

28 November 2010

John McIntyre, a copy editor at the Baltimore Sun, is one of the most insightful commentators on good language writing today. He hits another one out of the park with this post about the absurd maxim, “When you meet an adverb, kill it.” He does a close reading of a Nabokov passage that rips that maxim to shreds. Money quote:

Maxims can only carry you a little way forward. What you need to do is study why low-grade prose (easily found if you subscribe to a daily newspaper or have access to the Internet) never gets aloft, and why first-rate prose soars. That is when you will begin to get somewhere yourself.

Those who dispense style advice in bite-sized chunks really ought to read more. They will quickly see that almost all of their advice is exactly the opposite of how great writers write.