"Things that you were taught at the beginning of your career may no longer be valid," says longtime copy editor John McIntyre, who now joins many as a former newspaper employee.
Tell me about it. I still cringe when I see writers use zip code abbrevations within an article. Not the way I was taught at IU's Ernie Pyle Hall. And now social media is turning newspaper articles into headline tweets. I like the immediacy and the brevity. But I also want to read the rest of the story.
John's specific observation applies to our language and how its usage changes over time. That's truly a challenge if you have the AP Stylebook, Chicago Manual of Style or the classic S&W Elements of Style (clip from NPR) ingrained in your brain. In his blog, he lists distinctions between words and their meanings that he suggests still matter -- and others that, well, don't so much anymore. What do you think?
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