I was recently taken to task for putting the word ‘poo’ in a headline. Apparently civil servants don’t step in dog poo – they step in dog ‘waste’ or ‘mess’. The furore over my use of the word ‘poo’ infuriated me, but then again it inspired me to compile a list of some of the sillier headlines and titles I come across in my exciting life as an editor – just to soothe my bitterness a little. › Continue reading
I was obviously disappointed not to see a single dangling modifier in any of the winning entries for the Golden Bull Awards this week. There were some fantastic examples of bad writing, no doubt about it. But even so, I think the much under publicised – except by the Daily Telegraph – awards misfired on National Plain English day by pillorying Lord Mandelson. › Continue reading
This week ‘twitter’ was declared the most popular word for 2009. Meanwhile the Public Administration Select Committee published a report called Bad Language: The Use and Abuse of Official Language. Naturally, working for a government agency and being no stranger to social media networking, I was intrigued. Could there be a connection? › Continue reading