Really, I get paid to make things very precise, and in that context, it's important as hell.

E-zactly. On paper, that I'm being paid to make look professional (or turning in for a grade), super-proper grammar, accuracy, etc. Here, FB, talking in person (depending on audience), I say "whatevs," and "supposably" (I only say that one ironically, with Chandler freaking out in my head), and I abuse hyperbole like a mofo. The importance being that you know "Can't brane," is not correct English, and if you use the wrong 2/to/too it's on purpose.

eta: Cool, Steph! I look forward to playing with your rejects.

The importance being that you know "Can't brane," is not correct English, and if you use the wrong 2/to/too it's on purpose.

What's both funny and enraging is when non-Buffista friends on FB think they're busting me for posting something like "I haz a sad." I mean, REALLY? You've read everything else I've posted, you know what I do for a living, and you've heard me speak in person, and you STILL think that I unknowingly made some egregious error?

But then I have to remember that not everyone lives on the interwebs and recognizes lolspeak.

Sorry for moving my post and making some of y'all look crazy. I had meant to post it in Natter originally cause that is where I've generally posted CJ's educational woes.

And all your editorial geekery makes me giddy. I'm not an editor but had to work within AMA style for college and I'm so glad I don't have to conform to any style guides anymore. But I really appreciate those who know those details.

I might talk about my struggles with citations, but at this point, it's a moo point. You know, like something a cow might say.

I actually don't have to do much in the way of fixing the references -- before I get a manuscript, some magic has already taken place to style the references and check them against MEDLINE. I still have to wrangle nonstandard references, but for the most part references are the easiest part of what I do.

Lawyers would cite:

Stephanie Lastname, I Thought This Shirt Was Clean: A Study of the Effects of Laundering on Fur Deposits in Common Fabrics, 53 Annals of Household Animal Fur Research 234-57 (2014).

Sadly, despite 29 years in the field (including law school), I had to check the Blue Book to come up with that.

before I get a manuscript, some magic has already taken place to style the references and check them against MEDLINE.

sobs

When I get the manuscript, the references have been shoved into our style, but it may or may not have been done correctly. And no one's checked squat against dick. There used to be an automated process that checked against CiteSeer, but that is no more.

As we've been having this convo, I've also been working on the flier for our holiday party. I recycled last year's, as one does, and despite re-reading it a half-dozen times, I managed to leave the 2013 on it when I emailed it to the whole company (and printed multiple copies). As you'd imagine, the person who proofreads everybody else's stuff is taking some hits on this.

Who besides me likes Fred's style the best because it capitalizes all of the title instead of just the first word - just like we were taught as kids? (I'm guessing it'll have some overlap with the people who stand with me in the pro-em-dash/space and pro-oxford comma corner).

Who besides me likes Fred's style the best because it capitalizes all of the title instead of just the first word - just like we were taught as kids?

AMA style is to only capitalize the first word (and proper nouns) in articles, but to capitalize all the words for book titles. It gets weirder with internet references, because you have to decide if a reference is equivalent to an article or a book, and capitalize accordingly.