Emdashes. The New Yorker between the lines

Best of Emdashes: Hit Parade
Weekly: Pick of the Issue
Bimonthly: Ask the Librarians

Submit a question for the next column.

Frequently:
Headline Shooter
Seal Barks
Eustace Google
Looked Into

The Squib Report
X-Rea: Irvin Type Watch
Letters & Challenges
On the Spot
Eds. | Personal

David Remnick, Mandy Moore, and Guy Maddin Share a Surprising Secret

Filed under: Eds. Tagged: copy editing, David Remnick, grammar, Guy Maddin, movies, politics

To wit, they're all in this post. Oh, susceptible feed-readers!

David Remnick makes plenty of good sense in the London Independent, though if you read the fine print it's actually an excerpt from a Stop Smiling interview. But if you actually visit Stop Smiling, at least if you're me, you'll be unable to find the Remnick interview, and will have to content yourself by reading instead about one of your favorite filmmakers, Guy Maddin. And if, after you read the Remnick interview, you'd like to see a photo of him looking rather stern as he interviews Barack Obama, Mediabistro has provided one.

Also, although it's tempting to view Britney et al. as paragons of grammatical virtue, the quite handy and culturally relevant site Celebrity English will set you straight. Among C.E.'s many practical features:

Grammar Examples
Hone your grammar skills! Janet Jackson and Owen Wilson will teach you about run-on sentences. Madonna and Nicole Kidman will teach you about dangling participles. Which stars would you like to teach you about subject/verb agreement? How about Johnny Depp? Britney Spears? Tom Cruise?

Vocabulary Examples
Have fun while you improve your word power! Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will teach you about words that mean "charitable" and "inclination." Paris Hilton will teach you what "contrition" and "explicate" mean. Orlando Bloom will show you the difference between "avocation" and "vocation." Learn why Scarlett Johansson is adamant about a decision she made.

Plus, who's making the most mistakes? Only Celebrity English knows! It's almost The Chicago Manual of Life & Style, a publication that would suit me to a T.

0 comments

Post a comment

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

Your name

Your email address

Your website address

Remember personal info?

Your comments

Who we?

Emdashes, founded December 2004, is a place where keen and dedicated readers of The New Yorker, past and present, can find related news and commentary: about people, subjects, and ideas within the magazine, and events and conversations outside its pages. Learn more about us and our contributors.

Affinities | Blurbs

We welcome tips, questions, and comments about The New Yorker past and present, plus related events, links, typeface sightings, &c. To contact the magazine or send a submission, click here.

No fear: Everything you say or send is off the record unless we ask for your permission to use it.

This site is neither owned nor operated by The New Yorker magazine or Condé Nast Publications.

A few clips

Report: Learning to read with comic books edited by Françoise Mouly (for Print)
Interview: Designer Eleanor Grosch (for Print)
Review: Charles Addams: A Cartoonist's Life by Linda H. Davis (for Newsday)
Review: The King's Gambit: A Son, a Father, and the World's Most Dangerous Game by Paul Hoffman (for Newsday)
Review: Does The New Republic's recent redesign mean a change of tune? (for Print)
Proposal: A more attractive MetroCard (for A Brief Message)
Interview: James Surowiecki on what's next for the wisdom of crowds (for Assignment Zero)
Report: Eustace Tilley spruces up for The New Yorker's website redesign (for Print)
Feature: Muslim immigration iconography in the Netherlands (for Print)
Review: books about various New Yorker cartoonists by Liza Donnelly and Iain Topliss (for Newsday)
Profile: screenwriter and novelist Joe Keenan (for Newsday)
Review: The Complete New Yorker (for Print)

More clips.

Tell me more

They say that dashes “are particularly useful in a sentence that is long and complex.” Emdashes—like em dashes—emphasizes what’s between: in particular, between the lines, covers, and issues of a magazine close to my heart.

Primary sources

The New Yorker
Events listed by the magazine
Web resources: New Yorker writers and artists
Books, Organizations, &c.

Founded by Emily Gordon, edited by Martin Schneider, designed by Pretty, and illustrated by Inkleaf. Additional drawings by Carolita Johnson. Kissable pencil girl by Jennifer Hadley, based on a 1943 Dorothy Gray ad.

The Rossosphere