Dec 9, 2021TOOLSThe Serendipitous Pleasures of Work-Related GooglingI spend a lot of time Googling while editing; it's an integral part of working with scientific material. To speed up the search, I use...
Nov 23, 2021MICROSOFT WORDMacro: Intelligent Single to Double Quotes ConversionWhat the Macro Does I felt the need for this macro when I was working on a UK book that had to be converted to US style. I found myself...
Oct 15, 2021LANGUAGENegative ConnotationsTwelve years ago, I emailed a friend, congratulating him on his impending marriage. A few days later, we spoke, and he questioned my use...
Sep 16, 2021EDITINGThe Case of the Sticky FigureIt seemed simple enough. The style called for figure captions to be placed above figures (in fact, they were even called figure titles),...
Sep 3, 2021Thoughts on Meeting the Devil: Health Care Jargon, the Art of Note TakingThe title piece of this fine collection is by Hilary Mantel, and it begins thus: "Three or four nights after surgery — when, in the words...
Aug 24, 2021LANGUAGENo Carelessness Until There Is a CureThis is a terribly worded public health message that seems to be spreading like a virus: it is now appended to routine SMSs from public...
Aug 5, 2021LANGUAGEA Period Never Follows an Exclamation Mark: An Exception to the RuleDouble punctuation is ugly, but unavoidable sometimes. For example, it appears in dialogue: He said, "I try to avoid double punctuation."...