What a difference a comma makes…..

The comma is powerful since it makes text readable.

This punctuation mark indicates when to pause and when to take a breath. In short, that reads like a pause when speaking. Without it, we would be faced with the additional challenge to find out what the text means.

To illustrate, let’s have a look at what Lynne Truss wrote in her book Eats, Shoots, and Leaves. It nicely illustrates the power of the comma:

A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air. “Why?” asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes towards the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder. “I’m a panda,” he says at the door. “Look it up.” The waiter turns to the relevant entry, and sure enough, finds an explanation. “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”

A comma in the wrong place completely changes the meaning of a sentence. Even when it’s not a complete sentence, a comma can be very important in purveying the right meaning. Just compare the following two phrases:

Woman, without her man, is nothing
Woman, without her, man is nothing

Furthermore, even in a list a comma can make a big difference. Just look at the following:

Please bring a battery, charger and backup disk for your computer
Please bring a battery charger and backup disk for your computer.

In the first sentence, you must bring three items, in the second two…..

To round it up, let’s look at the following statement:

“See you in hell Sheldon”

This implies that there is such a thing as a Hell Sheldon (his friends and colleagues quite likely agree)

Moral of this story: use your commas wisely!

The Beautiful Art of Doggerel

Doggerel is an old and underestimated art form. According to the official definition, a doggerel is “a light verse which is humorous and comic by nature”. It is however often viewed with disdain as containing “little literary value”.

In “Eating Your Aunty is Wrong“, Stephen Arnott writes: “Groups of young men in Sussex and Devon used to go “apple howling”, visiting local orchards and spouting *doggerel* to encourage the trees to be fruitful. In return the men expected drink or money from the orchard’s owner. If they didn’t get it they’d return to the orchard and shout curses at the trees.”

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, one of the earliest uses of the word “doggerel” is found in the 14th century in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. He applied the term “rym doggerel” to his “Tale of Sir Thopas,” a burlesque of the long-winded medieval romance.

John Skelton, caught in the transition between Chaucer’s medieval language and the beginning of the English Renaissance, wrote verse long considered being almost doggerel. He defended himself in Colin Clout:

For though my rhyme be ragged,

Tattered and jagged,

Rudely rain-beaten,

Rusty and moth-eaten,

If ye take well therewith,

It hath in it some pith.

Since then, doggerel has been employed in most English comic verse, from that of Victorian poet Samuel Butler and Gulliver’s Travels author Jonathan Swift to the contemporary American poet Ogden Nash.

The doggerel even has a German counterpart, called Knüttelvers (literally “cudgel verse”). It was popular during the Renaissance and was later used for comic effect by such poets as J.W. von Goethe and Friedrich von Schiller.

Doggerel verse is still commonly heard in limericks and nonsense verse, popular songs, and commercial jingles.

All in all, the doggerel is a fun form of poetry and not so easy to write. So I invite all writers and poets, try your hand at the beautiful art of writing a doggerel!

Will ReadMatter Really Matter?

Two enterprising journalists, Jim Giles and Bobbie Johnson, decided that it was time for an innovative online magazine – Matter. The format will long-form investigative narrative journalism about science and technology. “No cheap reviews, no snarky opinion pieces, no top ten lists,” they promise. “Just one unmissable story.”

Both journalists have an impressive resume: Jim Giles wrote for Nature and The Economist) and Bobbie Johnson for The Guardian and The New York Times. Not too shabby.

They decided to use Kickstarter to raise $ 50,000 in funds. They were more than successful – they raised over $140,000. “People gave way more than I thought they would,” said Jim Giles. “We have tapped into frustration with the way the internet has promoted quick and cheap journalism and bashed longer-quality stuff, or at least undermined the business model that used to support that sort of thing.”

Matter tweeted on April, 4: “We don’t have a set launch date, but it will probably be in a couple of months”. Once Matter is alive, readers will have the option of buying individual stories for 99 cents each or opt for a subscription. The magazine will be monthly at first, and then weekly, assuming everything goes according to plan.

The 99 cents model is clever. Readers can purchase an article and read it on Kindle and iPad. Giles and Johnson leverage the ebooks hype. Some journalists and writers make money via Amazon and news sites such as atavist.net with stories that are too long to be published in a newspaper or magazine, and too short for a book.

Matter wants writers to approach them with vague ideas. The writer then gets matched to an editor very early on — before the piece is even formally commissioned — and the final article comes together as a collaboration between the writer, editor, and publishers.

However, Matter is quite narrow in what it wants to publish. It is focusing on long-form, narrative, investigative news stories about science and technology. To overcome this hurdle, the founders are looking at different models e.g., cooperating with newspapers.

Let’s wait and see if it lives up to its promise of “gripping exposes of online crime, untold tales of environmental threats, inside stories about revolutionary technologies and exclusive reports from the most controversial research labs.”

Time will tell…….

John Steinbeck’s Writing Advise

George Plimpton and Frank Crowther interviewed John Steinbeck for the Paris Review. Below is the section of how writers should get starting.

(For the full article, please click here)

ON GETTING STARTED

It is usual that the moment you write for publication—I mean one of course—one stiffens in exactly the same way one does when one is being photographed. The simplest way to overcome this is to write it to someone, like me. Write it as a letter aimed at one person. This removes the vague terror of addressing the large and faceless audience and it also, you will find, will give a sense of freedom and a lack of self-consciousness.

Now let me give you the benefit of my experience in facing 400 pages of blank stock—the appalling stuff that must be filled. I know that no one really wants the benefit of anyone’s experience which is probably why it is so freely offered. But the following are some of the things I have had to do to keep from going nuts.

1. Abandon the idea that you are ever going to finish. Lose track of the 400 pages and write just one page for each day, it helps. Then when it gets finished, you are always surprised.

2. Write freely and as rapidly as possible and throw the whole thing on paper. Never correct or rewrite until the whole thing is down. Rewrite in process is usually found to be an excuse for not going on. It also interferes with flow and rhythm which can only come from a kind of unconscious association with the material.

3. Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person—a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.

4. If a scene or a section gets the better of you and you still think you want it—bypass it and go on. When you have finished the whole you can come back to it and then you may find that the reason it gave trouble is because it didn’t belong there.

5. Beware of a scene that becomes too dear to you, dearer than the rest. It will usually be found that it is out of drawing.

6. If you are using dialogue—say it aloud as you write it. Only then will it have the sound of speech.

The Curious Case of the Misquoted Shakespeare

Zut! Monsieur François Hollande, the socialist candidate running for president in La Douce France, cited Shakespeare during his first major political rally.

The quote is “They failed, because they did not start with the dream”. Needless to say, English and French journalists were trying to find the play it came from.

The problem is that (according to a French newspaper), the quote is from Nicholas Shakespeare, a distant descendent of The Bard. Nicholas is a novelist and credit at the Daily Telegraph. He wrote several books, including a biography of Bruce Chatwin (1940-1989) who wrote ‘In Patagonia’.

Nicholas confirmed that the quote was taken from his own novel ‘The Vision of Elena Silves’ (1989). In this novel, the words are spoken by the protagonist Gabriel, a Maoist revolutionary who joins the Peruvian terror group Sendero Luminoso.

But the story does not end there……the next day, Nicholas Shakespeare wrote in the Telegraph that he had combed through his own novel, but was unable to find the quote!

Toby Manhire of the New Zealand Listener decided to enter the quote in French as cited by Hollande into Google. Search results included several attributions to Shakespeare, including one that (incorrectly) states that the phrase comes from Hamlet.

So what did really happen? Quite likely, two separate quotes were mashed. As Antonia Bland pointed out in The Week, it’s a mix of William Shakespeare’s quote from Hamlet: “The very substance of the ambitious is merely the shadow of a dream” and the Anatole France quote “To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe”.

But in the end, it was a powerful quote…that gave Hollande lots of PR!

Penguin Withdraws From Overdrive; Looks For New Library Partners

Penguin announced as of February 10 (today) it “would no longer offer additional copies of ebooks and audiobooks for purchase via Overdrive” and is severing their ongoing relationship with the vendor.

Libraries will continue to have access to titles they have already purchased, and Penguin is negotiating a “continuance agreement” with Overdrive to service the products that have already been sold.

The move is an outgrowth of the publisher’s suspension of sales of new titles to libraries in late November. At the time they said that “due to new concerns about the security of our digital editions, we find it necessary to delay the availability of our new titles in the digital format while we resolve these concerns with our business partners.”

One aspect of those security concerns is ever-clearer: As Overdrive told their library customers in an e-mail, “Penguin ebooks loaned for reading on Kindle devices will need to be downloaded to a computer then transferred to the device over USB. For library patrons, this means Penguin ebooks will no longer be available for over-the-air delivery to Kindle devices or to Kindle apps.”

In November, Overdrive briefly suspended Kindle lending for Penguin titles, then restored it on a temporary basis, “until the end of the year.”

As reported multiple times, but does not seem to have seeped out into general reports or public consciousness, multiple publishers claimed that Overdrive’s implementation of their Kindle library lending–in which library patrons are sent to a commercial, third-party retailer, in this case Amazon–is in their view a direct violation of Overdrive’s contracts.

Remember that in November, Penguin said clearly it “informed suppliers to libraries that it expected them to abide by existing agreements to offer older digital titles to libraries only if those files were held behind the firewalls of the suppliers.” Not the firewalls of retailers.

Also in November, Penguin said it had “subsequently been informed by Amazon that it had not been consulted by Overdrive about the terms of Penguin’s agreement with Overdrive,” which, you can reasonably infer, does not allow Kindle lending the way Overdrive was executing it.

Another publisher stated that when the Kindle library lending was launched in September–and surprised publishers by sending patrons to Amazon.com: “Our agreement with Amazon allows them to download our books only to people they sell to from their sites. Our OverDrive contract allows for fulfillment of files to end users (libraries or retail) only if the file is on their server (ContentReserve).”

Similarly, a publisher reiterated to us today that they “have been in discussions with OverDrive but we have not had a satisfactory resolution to the issue (despite their stated willingness to amend the contract). We continue to allow them to work with Kindle but we are getting more and more anxious to have a solution.”

Many of today’s accounts focus on Penguin’s withdrawal, without covering the rest of Penguin’s statement. The publisher says “it is vital that we forge relationships with libraries and build a future together…. Our ongoing partnership with the ALA is more important than ever, and our recent talks with ALA leadership helped bring everything into focus.”

The company expects to establish an agreement with one or more new vendors to resume digital library lending, under a different set of business conditions. They say in their statement, “we are continuing to talk about our future plans for ebook and digital audiobook availability for library lending with a number of partners providing these services. Following productive discussions between the ALA leadership and executives from Penguin, Macmillan, Random House, Simon & Schuster, and Perseus, there is some talk about at least one pathway to what some believe is an appropriate model for now: lending ebooks to patrons from within library branches, the same way physical media is lent, rather than lending ebooks online. Mimicking the current process of how other library materials are lent would be one way of restoring the “friction” that differentiates libraries from online shopping, and reinforces libraries themselves as a destination and resource for patrons. Among vendors competing for portions of the library lending business, 3M offers in-library kiosks and library-loaded ereading devices. As one publisher noted, the entire library digital supply chain and security procedures emerged without publishers having an active role in how it is constructed, managed and governed. Starting over–as quickly as can be implemented–is one way of rebuilding a better process that supports libraries’ important role in serving the public while protecting the interests of creators and publishers. Meanwhile, OverDrive says that they “are continuing to talk to Penguin about their future plans for ebook and digital audiobook availability for library lending.”

(Source: Publisher Lunch)

10 Words to Use – Or Not!

Language is alive and thriving. New words enter our language, whether we like them (and want to use them) or not. Following are some great (and not so great) additions to our language, courtesy of the good people residing in ivory towers (aka universities).

Lake Superior State University released its 37th List of Words Banished from the Queen’s English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness.  These include pop culture catchphrases (aka E! speak) “baby bump,” “man cave” and “the new normal.”

Hot on its heels, Wayne State University released its fourth list of 10 words it says deserve greater use.

“The English language has more words in its lexicon than any other,” said
Jerry Herron, dean of Wayne State’s Honors College. “By bringing these words
back into conversation, we expand our ability to communicate clearly and
help make our world a more interesting place.” Quod erat demonstrantum.

Curious about WSU’s top 10?

1. Antediluvian: Antiquated; old-fashioned; out of date. (Literally: “before theflood,” referring to the biblical deluge. No not confuse with “après nous, la déluge)
2. Erstwhile: Former; bygone.
3. Execrable: Atrocious; wretched; abominable.
4. Frisson: Thanks to the French, this word meaning that sudden, involuntary shiver felt at times of great emotion.
5. Parlous: Dangerous or risky. It’s a variant of the Middle English word “perilous.”
6. Penultimate: Next to last.
7. Sisyphean: Actually or apparently endless and futile. (After Sisyphus, who was doomed by the gods to roll a stone uphill, only to have it always roll back down).
8. Supercilious: Contemptuous; disdainful; condescending.
9. Transmogrify: To change completely, usually grotesquely, in appearance or form.
10. Truckle: Submit obsequiously; be subservient; kowtow.

Working For an Outsourcing Company as a Freelancer

When you are freelancing, you will be approached by outsourcing companies. Working for such companies has some advantages compared to hunting for customers yourself.

1) A legitimate and professional outscoring company will have the inside track to major companies that are hard to reach on your own. Professional outsourcing companies have blanket agreements with major companies such as Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT). Those customers ask for freelancers to do a specified job (e.g., editing a tender, writing a user guide, proofreading software) for a certain amount of hours. The outsourcing company will then contact you and will make a subcontracting agreement with you for the amount of hours and payment.

2) A solid outsourcing company will pay its freelancers within two months after the freelancer finished the job. It is the responsibility of the outsourcing company to collect payment from its clients. That is one of the benefits of working as a subcontractor; you do not need to run after the customer for payment.

3) A professional outsourcing company will pay their freelancers a decent hourly rate. The markup of an outsourcing company is 50%. As a freelancer, you need to take this into account. If an outsourcing company is paying below market rate, it is better to enlist customers directly.

4) If the end customer does not pay, it is the responsibility of the outsourcing company to get the payment (or sue!). The freelancer is no (legal) party in this and can also not be called upon as a witness. The freelancer can sue to outsourcing company though.

5) As a freelancer, you can pick and choose who you work for. You are not an employee, so you have the freedom to stop working for an outsourcing company once they stop paying you.

6) Select the outsourcing company you will be working for carefully. Make sure they are financially stable, pay market rates, and treat their freelancers with respect. An unstable or unprofessional outsourcing company can harm your professional reputation.

7) Ask around about the outsourcing company. How long have they been in the market? What is their track record? Which kind of customers do they have in their customer base? How are they with payments?

As a freelancer, you have the power to say: “pas d’argent, pas de Suisse”   

(Image courtesy of Inkygirl.com) 

The Tricky Task of Translating

Language is tricky, especially when it comes to translating.

In Germanic (e.g., English, German, Dutch) and Nordic (e.g., Swedish, Danish) languages, both written and spoken, are organized in a linear way with an emphasis on being concise.  There is an introduction, the main body of the story, followed by the conclusion.

Romanic (or Romance) languages (e.g., Spanish, French) like to be elegant and interesting.  Detours from the main storyline are expected to build the context and atmosphere. In Asian languages, opinions are not being expressed directly. As a result, there is a lot of circularity.  To avoid potential loss of face, ideas are hinted at or indicate and not presented in a straightforward way. A point of view is only expressed once feedback from other speakers or readers is received.

Translators are very much aware of this. Due to differences in culture and language structure, it is impossible to translate “word-for-word” from one language to another.  A translator must have a solid understanding of this before starting to translate. For example, the Japanese word “hai” is literally translated as “yes.”  For most Westerners, that would be pretty straightforward: “Yes, I understood and agree”.  Japanese however, would understand “Yes, I understand what you are saying” without any further commitment. Even more, r a Japanese would understand “hai” as “Yes, I hear that you are saying something but I don’t understand what you are saying”.

Differences in cultural values result in different preferred methods of speech.  In American English, an individual is assumed to be in control of his or her destiny) the American Dream). As a result, there is a preference for using the “active” tense (e.g., “I wrote the marketing plan”) as opposed to the passive tense (e.g., “The marketing plan was written by me.”). Some US companies such as Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) even have that in their guidelines (e.g., on their partner portals)

Good translators are very much aware of these issues. They will do their research and make sure that their translation is being proofread before submitting it to the client.

Want to know more? Contact Tip Top Writer to learn more about translations.

Talking about Language

Language is not only a part of our daily life, but also an elementary part of our culture. Even within one country or state, there are regional differences in the same language. The differences between U.S., Australian, and British English (e.g., traffic light vs. robot) are actually modest compared to differences between dialects of Spanish and German.

Idioms are figures of speech that are not be used (when literally translated) in other languages. For example, the notion of “knock it out of the ball park” makes sense in the US, but is not understood in other countries. The noun “serendipity” is also mainly used in the US, and will not be understood by non-Americans.

But information is also transferred in non-verbal communication. In some cultures, people nod to signify “yes” and shake their heads to signify “no;” in other cultures (e.g., Greece, India) this practice is different.

If we look ad neologisms, there is a language issue there as well. Neologisms are terms that have come into language relatively recently as technology or society involved. Computer technology gave birth to the term “spam” and “add-on”. But different countries use different words. A computer is called a “Rechner” in German-speaking countries. A cell phone is called a “mobiel” in Dutch and a “Handy” in German.

Slang exists within almost all languages known to man. Slang does not only vary per region, but also per social group. There are often significant generation gaps in the use of slang (e.g., groovy).

Language is alive and always evolving. It’s one of the most creative tools to express feelings or convey an idea. Every day, new expressions and concepts are being coined (e.g., 9-9-9 tax plan).

Want to know about writing? Contact me at Tip Top Writer.