« Functional Color as an Editorial Tool | Home | The Fog Index »

Grammar for Texters

Posted on Monday, November 28, 2011 at 12:51 PM

In the news: One mother's attempt to combat "txtspeak"-induced ambivalence about grammar.

In all likelihood, you've received a text from a friend or business associate that makes your inner grammarian cringe. The text may contain typos, ungodly "txtspeak" (e.g., "c u l8r"), or unfortunate autocomplete errors. Geraldine Onorato, a Manhattan mother, discovered just how pervasive txtspeak has become when her son, who was in junior high at the time, had no knowledge of adverbs.

This led Onorato and a friend, Donna Harrow, to create a booklet entitled Facts for English. The booklet, which took two years to complete, collects basic grammatical concepts. Read more about the project here.

Also Notable

Editors as "Brandividuals"

Last month, Foliomag.com blogger Stefanie Botehlo reported on the 2011 American Business Media Executive Forum. Discussion topics ran the gamut from paywalls to branding, but also on tap was a lively discussion regarding what Botehlo calls the "emerging editorial model." The role of the editor, in other words, is changing. Today's editor must harness the power of social media to her publication's advantage by generating online interest in written, video, and online content. No longer can an editor work quietly in his cubicle to polish the content; today's b-to-b editor must be "as comfortable on camera as they are on a laptop." Our profession, it would seem, is becoming high-profile. Read more here.

Staff Changes at Newsweek

Just one year after the high-profile Newsweek/The Daily Beast merger, there was a recent staff shakeup at the publishing giant. Two weeks ago, executive editor Edward Felsenthal and managing editor Tom Weber resigned, as did publisher Ray Chelstowski. The resignations come after a reportedly difficult year for the newly merged entity, which, like many magazines, is struggling to recover in today's uncertain environment. Read more here and here.

Add your comment.

« Functional Color as an Editorial Tool | Top | The Fog Index »