Category Archives: Robert’s posts

Tracking Online News

Posted on December 19, 2015 by Robert Basil

My new favourite website is NewsDiffs.org, which tracks and archives changes made to online news articles over time. Currently it follows nytimes.com, cnn.com, politico.com, washingtonpost.com, and bbc.co.uk; no Canadian publications yet, alas. Click on the image to see how a … Continue reading →

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More on Clichés …

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Robert Basil

From professor Jonathan Mayhew: One of Orwell’s sillier pieces of writing advice is “Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.” Orwell advises “scrapping of every word or idiom which … Continue reading →

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Clichés Used in Journalism

Posted on November 29, 2015 by Robert Basil

The Washington Post compiles a helpful list; it’s up to 200. I am guilty of using the following in speaking (and the first one listed here in writing, too – alas): Any “not-un” formulation (as in “not unsurprising that you’d … Continue reading →

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Writing and editing for the computer screen

Posted on November 23, 2015 by Robert Basil

Lawyer and language genius Bryan Garner over at LawProse.org spells out, in typically lucid fashion, how to compose documents when you know they will be read on a computer screen rather than on paper. 1.Summarize. It’s important to learn the … Continue reading →

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No Word

Posted on November 14, 2015 by Robert Basil

A friend in the media emailed me this morning: “Everyone keeps talking about hostages having been taken in Paris. Doesn’t the word ‘hostage’ imply a demand on the part of the terrorists? They made no demands; they intended all along … Continue reading →

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Ricotta / Ree-goat

Posted on November 7, 2015 by Robert Basil

In Fairport, New York, where I grew up, there were lots of Italian American families, and I had many Italian American friends (still do). I married an Italian American from Liverpool, New York, and have a son from this marriage … Continue reading →

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“Sedulous aping”

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Robert Basil

 “Memory” – or memoria – is one of the five canons of classical rhetoric. Write Brett and Kate McKay in their excellent blog “The Art of Manliness”: Anciently, almost all rhetorical communication was done orally in the public forum. Ancient … Continue reading →

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“Epic translation success”

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Robert Basil

Read more at the always alert, amusing, and erudite Language Log.

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What would be on *your* “shadow CV”?

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Robert Basil

Regarding Devoney Looser’s ‘Chronicle of Higher Education’ article “Me and My Shadow CV: What would my vita look like if it recorded not just the success of my professional life but also the many, many rejections?” my friend Jonathan Mayhew … Continue reading →

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Where the three dots came from …

Posted on October 21, 2015 by Robert Basil

In a recent piece in The Guardian, “Unfinished story … how the ellipsis arrived in English literature,” Alison Flood describes the work of Cambridge University professor Anne Toner, who locates the origin of the ellipsis – “the mark of incomplete … Continue reading →

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