William Safire, On Language, New York Times Magazine
"What Walsh calls his 'curmudgeon's stylebook' contains such useful items as differentiating names of peoples ...His 'gray areas' are stimulating."
Book Description
Advice on good writing from everybody's favorite editorial curmudgeon
Persnickety, cantankerous, opinionated, entertaining, hilarious, wise...these are a few of the adjectives reviewers used to describe good-writing maven Bill Walsh's previous book, Lapsing Into a Comma. Now, picking up where he left off in Lapsing, Walsh addresses the dozen or so biggest issues that every writer or editor must master. He also offers a trunkload of good advice on the many little things that add up to good writing. Featuring all the elements that made Lapsing such a fun read, including Walsh's trademark acerbic wit and fascinating digressions on language and its discontents, The Elephants of Style provides: Tips on how to tame the "elephants of style"--the most important, frequently confused elements of good writing More of Walsh's popular "Curmudgeon's Stylebook"--includes entries such as Snarky Specificity, Metaphors, Near and Far, Actually is the New Like, and other uses and misuses of language Expert advice for writers and editors on how to work together for best results
Download Description
Advice on good writing from everybody's favorite editorial curmudgeon Persnickety, cantankerous, opinionated, entertaining, hilarious, wise...these are a few of the adjectives reviewers used to describe good-writing maven Bill Walsh's previous book, Lapsing Into a Comma. Now, picking up where he left off in Lapsing, Walsh addresses the dozen or so biggest issues that every writer or editor must master. He also offers a trunkload of good advice on the many little things that add up to good writing. Featuring all the elements that made Lapsing such a fun read, including Walsh's trademark acerbic wit and fascinating digressions on language and its discontents, The Elephants of Style provides: Tips on how to tame the ""elephants of style""--the most important, frequently confused elements of good writing More of Walsh's popular ""Curmudgeon's Stylebook""--includes entries such as Snarky Specificity, Metaphors, Near and Far, Actually is the New Like, and other uses and misuses of language Expert advice for writers and editors on how to work together for best results
From the Back Cover
A thorough, and thoroughly entertaining, guide to writing like the pros
What do writers and editors mean when they talk about style? Sometimes they mean formatting for consistency and clarity. (Is it Texas or Tex. or TX? One space or two after a period?) Sometimes they mean correctness in spelling, grammar, word usage and punctuation. (A historic or an historic? The data is or the data are?) And sometimes they mean style as in stylishness. (Bright and breezy or just-the-facts-ma'am? Is that cute little idea fresh and original or tired and silly?) Inside, you'll find answers that will add polish and sparkle to your writing.
In the word-nerd classic Lapsing Into a Comma, Bill Walsh of the Washington Post entertained, educated and enlightened writers, editors, students and language lovers with commonsense guidelines and opinionated commentary on American English in the computer age. In The Elephants of Style he takes a step back and presents an in-depth look at the basics, including spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, subject-verb agreement, plurals and possessives.
With sometimes acerbic wit, the author also addresses: The lies your English teacher told you. Balancing the traditional ("Once wrong, always wrong") with the progressive ("Everybody does it") as language continues to evolve. How and why major publications differ in their handling of basic spelling, capitalization and punctuation issues. How empathy between writers and editors can make writing better.
The Elephants of Style includes a continuation of The Curmudgeon's Stylebook, Walsh's A-to-Z glossary of style matters big and small, guaranteed to address questions that no other usage manuals cover. Is Starbucks a coffee shop? Is it porn or porno?
About the Author
Bill Walsh is the copy chief for national news at the Washington Post and the creator of the popular Web site The Slot: A Spot for Copy Editors (www.theslot.com). He lives in Washington, D.C.
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