Stephen Pinker, publicizing his book The Sense of Style, kicked up a fuss with his piece “The Source of Bad Writing,” which appeared in the Wall Street Journal last September. He began: Why is so much writing so bad? Why is it so hard to understand a government form, or an academic article or theContinue reading “The Source of Bad Writing: Don’t Let It Be You”
Author Archives: Steven Jong
STC Election 2015: Who I voted for
The 2015 STC election is currently open. If you’re a member, you should have received a link to the election website (send email to stc@stc.org if you have not). Please vote! The Society needs your active involvement. You can find out more about the candidates here. Not that anyone asked, but here’s who I votedContinue reading “STC Election 2015: Who I voted for”
Update on Certification
I haven’t been able to say anything about certification for quite a while now, but there’s news from STC. From president Kit Brown-Hoekstra’s mid-term status report, in the February 2015 Intercom magazine: For the past year and a half, we have been working to restructure certification to improve scalability and ensure its financial stability. WeContinue reading “Update on Certification”
Error messages: Does anyone really care?
Recently one of the engineering managers at work mentioned a bizarre error message he’d read about: “Shut ‘er down, Clancy, she’s pumping mud!” Thanks to Google, I quickly verified that it was a real message, from the Texas Instruments 990 minicomputer, indicating a condition that the programmer never expected would happen but eventually did. (Isn’t thatContinue reading “Error messages: Does anyone really care?”
Guardian or gatekeeper?
The Boston Globe today reviews N. M. Gwynne’s Gwynne’s Grammar: The Ultimate Introduction to Grammar and the Writing of Good English (available for pre-order on Amazon.com). Gwynne is a strict traditionalist and prescriptivist—in other words, a “scold”—who holds to the view that it’s been all downhill for English since Shakespeare. I’ve been trying to improve myself withContinue reading “Guardian or gatekeeper?”
Leave Taylor Swift Alone!
As a singer, I’ve been exposed to a lot of lyrics. I’ve also composed a few parody lyrics in my time, so I know how hard they are to write. I’m a fan of Taylor Swift. She has her share of haters, whom I suspect are jealous of her enormous success at such a youngContinue reading “Leave Taylor Swift Alone!”
Question assumptions? Yes! And assume questions, too
There’s an old expression that to assume makes an ass out of u and me. (The phrasing works even better in the text era). I admit that many of my mistakes come from not checking my own assumptions. Is that what they really want? Is he postponing this week’s meeting, or next week’s? So myContinue reading “Question assumptions? Yes! And assume questions, too”
Steven Jong 