Emdashes. Modern Times Between the Lines.
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15. The word “phenomena” is plural. One phenomenon, two phenomena, red phenomenon, blue phenomenon. A fishy school of phenomena.
16. The word “criteria” is, too. One criterion, two criteria, one Criterion Collection, several (I think) Criterion Cinemas. That’s the one in New Haven, which is a good one.
17. “Are we still on?” An understandably common phrase in the city of plan-canceling (aided by generally handy cell phones), but as I wrote earlier this year, echoing a great Times editorial by Bob Morris at about this time last year, we’ve really got to stop doing that.
18. What is “advanced notice”? It’s “advance notice.” “Advanced notice” makes no sense. Also, “advanced tickets”?
Visit banned words and phrases 12-14, 7-11, 4-6, and 1-3, and by all means, send in your own!
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Hello! We're a small band of culture writers, editors, and artists based in New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Emdashes, which spent its formative years as a New Yorker blog, is our collection of conversations—mostly civilized—about magazines, movies, design, punctuation, and other things that stir us.
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Dashes, some say, “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like an em dash itself—provides a thoughtful pause amid the hubbub.
Emdashes, founded in 2004, is written and drawn by Emily Gordon, Martin Schneider, Pollux, Jonathan Taylor, and Benjamin Chambers, as well as occasional guest contributors. All posts before October 2008 are by Emily Gordon.
The site was designed by House of Pretty with illustrations by Jesse R. Ewing.
Additional drawings are by Carolita Johnson and Pollux (author of our web comic, "The Wavy Rule"). The Emdashes pencil logo is by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.
Other writing by Emily Gordon
- Reviews: theater writing (for Time Out Chicago)
- Profile: Valerie Casey, Designers Accord founder, is spearheading the design of sustainability (for SXSW World)
- Feature: Rea Irvin: visionary art director, bon vivant, New Yorker founding father (for Print)
- Slide show: the Coney Island Mermaid Parade (for NYCgo.com)
- Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands, and an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali (for Print)
- Review: King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
- Homage: Celebrating lindy-hop legend Frankie Manning (for NYCgo.com)
- Inquiry: Does a New Republic redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
- Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
- Interviews: four up-and-coming designers under 30 (for Print)
- Profile: novelist and dance critic Laura Jacobs (for Newsday)
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Comments
‘presently’ instead of ‘currently’, as in:
“I am presently a student at such and such….”
currently= now
presently= future (though almost now)
what about “all intensive purposes”? i hate that.
or: “we’ll get that to you soonest,” when people really just mean “soon.” soonest? sooner than what?
come ON, people!
I hate “intensive purposes” too.
Also: I’ve seen and heard “should of” far more times than I ever would have expected.
I don’t know if it can be banned, but when I hear the “t” in “often” pronounced, I want to say “Hasten to listen to my advice …” loudly sounding the hard “t.”
I think it’s “For all INTENTS and purposes.”
Anybody bugged by the confusion of “less” and “fewer?” I don’t recall a “rule”, but I know when apparent mis-use grates. YAAARRRGGGH!
“All intensive purposes” somehow falls into the malapropism camp for me, and puts a silly grin on my face.
The “less” v. “fewer” rule, concisely explained by the Oxford University Press or colorfully presented by the BBC (for their “Learning English” series, and the text they chose could have been slightly more cheerful):
Less is used with uncountable nouns, like money or work or travel, and fewer is used with countable plural nouns, like coins or jobs or trips. Less is the comparative form of little and fewer is the comparative form of few. Compare the following:
I have less work now than I had this time last year.
There are simply fewer jobs around that I am suitable for.
I therefore have little money and few friends.
I nominate “these difficult times” as being utterly meaningless, considering it’s applied to virtually any and every time period.