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Be safe, and capitalize correctly.
Oct. 30th, 2012 01:47 pmYo, alive here in the DC area. We got rain and winds and some downed trees and power outages but managed to avoid most of the flooding and damage. All my best out to those affected, but particularly in the New York and New Jersey areas. As my work requires close coverage of the news, I'm well aware of just how widespread and devastating Sandy has been. Be safe, everyone!
Speaking of my job, it also skews my perspective a little. I forget that not everyone has practically memorized major headlines that arise every day or care about all the subjects the news covers. College and law school made it really easy to live in a bubble of being unaware of the news, I remember. Now I'm the opposite! A bubble of being constantly aware of the news...
I'm also disproportionately upset over the fact that, from what I've read on the job, in online articles, and in fic, people seem to have given up proper nouns. It makes my soul cry a little bit.
You know "tea party" and "Tea Party" mean different things, right? The President of the United States is an official job title, as is Secretary of State. When did "so-and-so tea party candidate criticized the secretary of state and the president of the United States" become acceptable journalism? You know what else are proper nouns? Lower East Side, Brooklyn Bridge, etc. Lookin' at you, journalists covering Sandy. /squints
And in fic, it drives me crazy when brand names aren't capitalized: "red bull" is not the same thing as "Red Bull". I know, I know, the evolution of language and the genericization of brand names (which every company tries to avoid via trademark, hooray, law factoid!). I get it. I let things like "googling info" slide, and obviously no one cares about bandaid or kleenex anymore (except my spellcheck), but "life cereal" and "Life cereal"? Not the same thing. "Nike shoes," not "nike shoes" please. What. WHAT.
Is this the downfall of our society?
Yeah, yeah, sometimes I get hung up on the little things. But what have proper nouns ever done to you? :(
Speaking of my job, it also skews my perspective a little. I forget that not everyone has practically memorized major headlines that arise every day or care about all the subjects the news covers. College and law school made it really easy to live in a bubble of being unaware of the news, I remember. Now I'm the opposite! A bubble of being constantly aware of the news...
I'm also disproportionately upset over the fact that, from what I've read on the job, in online articles, and in fic, people seem to have given up proper nouns. It makes my soul cry a little bit.
You know "tea party" and "Tea Party" mean different things, right? The President of the United States is an official job title, as is Secretary of State. When did "so-and-so tea party candidate criticized the secretary of state and the president of the United States" become acceptable journalism? You know what else are proper nouns? Lower East Side, Brooklyn Bridge, etc. Lookin' at you, journalists covering Sandy. /squints
And in fic, it drives me crazy when brand names aren't capitalized: "red bull" is not the same thing as "Red Bull". I know, I know, the evolution of language and the genericization of brand names (which every company tries to avoid via trademark, hooray, law factoid!). I get it. I let things like "googling info" slide, and obviously no one cares about bandaid or kleenex anymore (except my spellcheck), but "life cereal" and "Life cereal"? Not the same thing. "Nike shoes," not "nike shoes" please. What. WHAT.
Is this the downfall of our society?
Yeah, yeah, sometimes I get hung up on the little things. But what have proper nouns ever done to you? :(
