A Capital Idea

This blog is now closed, and I've begun moderating comments. Please feel free to email the author at nicole@nicolestockdale.com.

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2011/05/this-blog-is-now-closed.html

Peeking out of my blogging coffin to share this tidbit with all you overworked copy editors, if schadenfreude's your thing: The Nationals are making copy-editing (and baseball uniform) news with ...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2009/04/o-noes-no-os.html

While I'm blogging ... I should also link to another Ask the Editor column I wrote for The Dallas Morning News. This one is about my duties as Sunday opinion editor. And cocktail parties.

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2008/04/two-blog-posts-in-one-day.html

An apt description of my editing life can be summed up by this Onion story:Commas, Turning Up, Everywhere.onion_embed {background: rgb(256, 256, 256) !important;border: 4px solid rgb(65, 160, 65)...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2008/04/apt-description-of-my-editing-life-can.html

But I was asked to write a column for my newspaper's Web site on some copy-editing issues -- when readers complain about errors that aren't. I got to cover some of my favorite topics (including "...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2008/03/well-its-not-tehcnically-blogging.html

Here goes a few belated recaps from the ACES conference sessions. I'll start with Merrill Perlman's great "If I Knew Only" presentation. It was the perfect way to get the conference going, focusi...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/05/in-which-i-prove-im-not-dead-by.html

I'm in Florida for the ACES conference. Please take the time to say hi if you're here!Doug Fisher and I will be presenting a session on "blogging for editors" tomorrow afternoon, and I fully expe...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/04/bienvenidos-miami.html

A look at some posts today in my other blogging job shows the perils of relying on anonymous sources. Politico.com broke the news that John Edwards was going to announce that his campaign was on ...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/woops.html

NPR's "On the Media" will be covering the McJob news next week. n his 1991 novel Generation X, Douglas Coupland coined the term "McJob," to denote – as the OED now defines it – "an unstimulat...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/i-know-youll-know-some-examples.html

McDonald's has actually launched a lobbying effort to get the dictionary definition of "McJob" changed. We believe that it is out of date, out of touch with reality and most importantly it is ins...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/mcridiculous.html

Via Kottke.org comes this great example of verbing: The verbing of English nouns continues unabated. A music producer being sentenced for attempted theft tells the court that he's got six childre...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/concubining.html

The movie "Helvetica" had its world premiere at SXSW this week. The font celebrates its 50th birthday this year, and the feature-length film looks at its specifics and "typography, graphic design...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/font-on-film.html

Languagehat points out that it recently changed from set to make. From the OED's revisions page: For many years the verb to set has been cited as the longest entry in the OED. But a recheck shows...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/longest-entry-in-oed.html

Slate has a monthly contest about euphemisms with Barbara Wallraff (who, by the way, is living in Florence, Italy) as curator. She takes reader submissions and shares the best ones in a podcast. ...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/euphemisms-galore.html

It may look awkward, but AP style calls for "daylight-saving time" instead of "Daylight Savings Time" or whatever other concoction reporters are tempted to use.Here's the entry:daylight-saving ti...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/daylight-saving-time.html

More states than not are dealing with some flare-up or another over the HPV vaccine. Here in Texas, where Gov. Rick Perry's executive order made the state the first to mandate the shots, the issu...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/03/hpv-and-why-does-inoculate-only-have.html

Lest you think I've been deserting this blog, I bring you this from the Onion:" Casey has been a real disappointment," Bartell said. "In a story last Monday, instead of saying 'Dean of Students ...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/02/more-onion-love.html

ACES has announced its five scholarship winners for the year: Matthew Dulin, University of HoustonKrysten Chambrot, University of Missouri-ColumbiaMegan Crockett, Central Michigan UniversityAmy G...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2007/01/congratulations-aces-scholarship.html

I'm a fan of unions (always wanted the "Unions: The folks that brought you weekends" T-shirt). I'll admit that I sometimes cringe at the strict contract delineations ("no, copy editors can't writ...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2006/12/union-shops.html

From the Fort Worth Star-Telegram: We're missing a human remedy from the Stone Age that would erect a mighty backup defense against errors that no computer program or harried staffer on deadline ...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2006/12/ah-proofreaders.html

The Onion's always good for a language laugh. Witness:Skywriter trailed by skyeditorAnd for good measure:English Teacher On First Date In Ages Lets Dangling Modifier Slide FALLS CHURCH, VA—Reca...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2006/11/i-love-you-onion.html

I saw Joe Lieberman on "Meet the Press" Sunday, and the TV show listed him as "Joe Lieberman, I/D-Conn."That's right — I/D, for independent Democrat. He won the election as an independent but w...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2006/11/lieberman-id-conn.html

A new blog, Webster's Daily, celebrates found poetry from the first edition of Noah Webster'sAmerican Dictionary of the English Language (1828).Some examples: Blink, n.Blink of ice, is the dazzli...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2006/11/poetry-by-definition_14.html

I read about two books last week that I'm adding to my Christmas list:The first is "The Yale Book of Quotations," released Oct. 30, which I read about at the Freakonomics blog. It is by Fred Shap...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2006/11/who-said-it-first-or-did-they-say-it.html

Jay Rosen's open-source reporting project names a director of verification: Craig Silverman, who runs Regret the Error. Working with the NewAssignment.net team and you, we will conceive and deplo...

http://nstockdale.blogspot.com/2006/11/fewer-errors-to-regret.html