Blurt!Commonplace Book

Jonathon Owen

“Former New Yorker copy editor Mary Norris says that the style editor was on the verge of changing his mind on the diaereses back in 1978, but then he died, and ‘no one has had the nerve to raise the subject since.’”

posted Mar. 26, 2021, 10:05pm

“A lawful evil character ‘plays by the rules but without mercy or compassion.’ The New Yorker uses jarring diereses to prevent misreading of words that no one has trouble reading, and it doubles consonants in words like focussed because it said so, that’s why.”

posted Feb. 23, 2020, 8:40pm