You Don't Say: My worst fear - English grammar, language, usage and journalism blog by John E. McIntyre

« How to be an editor | Main | Surely you jest: The brewmasters »

My worst fear

Very scary episode of House this week. The patient: an editor. The problem: a disruption in the brain’s inhibitor function, leading the editor to speak whatever he was thinking.

If that should happen to me, police would be calling the medical examiner by sundown to cart off my body.

You think that’s an exaggeration? Ask my colleagues on the copy desk at The Sun about the sorts of things I say already, and invite them to extrapolate.

Posted by John McIntyre at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Comments

Maybe you are me.

Posted by: Owl Meat Gravy 2 – | March 12, 2009 6:14 PM

Ah, now a new worst fear.

Posted by: John McIntyre | March 12, 2009 6:20 PM

When your speech shifts to the monosyllabic and your expertise with certain Saxon terms shines, one becomes certain of displeasure.

Posted by: wayne | March 12, 2009 10:40 PM

I watched that last night from DVR with my husband who has never watched House. He loved every bit of it! We may have a new cult member!

Posted by: Di | March 15, 2009 8:29 AM

Post a comment

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Comments:

Verification (needed to reduce spam):

About John McIntyre

John McIntyre, mild-mannered editor for a great metropolitan newspaper, has fussed over writers’ work, to sporadic expressions of gratitude, for thirty years. He is The Sun’s night content production manager and former head of its copy desk. He also teaches editing at Loyola University Maryland. A former president of the American Copy Editors Society, a native of Kentucky, a graduate of Michigan State and Syracuse, and a moderate prescriptivist, he writes about language, journalism, and arbitrarily chosen topics. If you are inspired by a spirit of contradiction, comment on the posts or write to him at john.mcintyre@baltsun.com.

Follow @johnemcintyre

Baltimore Sun Facebook page

-- ADVERTISEMENT --

Recent posts

Most Recent Comments

Oh, the impact (17)
Chuck B. wrote: What constitutes a word will always... [more]
Last and past (20)
John McIntyre wrote: Any that copy editors are wasting v... [more]
The holiday cautions (28)
wrote: I find this article, and its messag... [more]
Commas and the limits of discretion (7)
Dan Howard wrote: I have a question pertaining to com... [more]
That elongated yellow fruit (8)
Vicky Haskell wrote: Hello.... That was my great gr... [more]

Get free Sun alerts sent to your mobile phone.*

Sign up for local news text alerts Returning user? Update preferences.
Sign up for more Sun text alerts

*Standard message and data rates apply. Click here for Frequently Asked Questions.