EDITOR@WORK: American vs. British English

WHEN I CAME ACROSS this sentence just now, I was pleased to see it; I like new words. And I had to go to the dictionary.

There have been three public kerfuffles over rules violations in recent years.

Informal chiefly Brit commotion; disorder; agitation

(tr) Scot to put into disorder or disarray; ruffle or disarrange

[from Scottish curfuffle, carfuffle, from Scottish Gaelic car twist, turn + fuffle to disarrange]

They might have used scuffles instead of kerfuffles.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com BLUESKY: PROFILE

MORE EDITOR@WORK BLOG ENTRIES

• You really DO need an editor

• Reminders for would-be novelists

• What I do when I'm editing

• What I charge (it's a deal) and what I edit

• Slogging through the Internet

• J-school: More eyes on your stories

• J-school: Go out and learn

• Rookie mistakes for magazine writers

BLOG ENTRIES BY TOM GILLISPIE

• Resume for a writer and editor

• An editor's views on powerful writing

• Advice for be and would-be novelists

• Links to TG's stories online

• Favorite quotes

• What I do when I'm editing

ANECDOTES BY TOM GILLISPIE

• Wipeout at Death Valley

• Days with rainbows

• A desperate writer working in the dark

• Yer OUTTA there!

ENTRIES FROM THE DOG BLOG

• Katie cried

• Growl and pull

• 13-plus years with my dog Lady

• ... said the spider to ...

• The Dog Diary (2014)

• YIP! YIP! The stereo-sound huskies

• What Lady and Michael Jackson had in common

BLOG ENTRIES FROM THE AUTO RACING JOURNAL

• Angel in Black: Remembering Dale Earnhardt Sr.

(a book of great stories about the Intimidator)

• Then Junior Said to Jeff...

(the book of great NASCAR stories)

• My best day as a sports writer

• Jeff Gordon's milk toast to Dale Earnhardt

• Wayne Auton: A life in racing

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Things to write about

Word for the day: I just encountered the word obstreperous, one I'd heard before, but I'd never looked up the meaning. According to the online dictionary:

Obstreperous -
- noisy: noisily and aggressively boisterous
- unruly: strongly objecting to something or noisily refusing to be controlled.

That'll get you arrested in most places.

It's English, right? Last month, I did a blog on the differences between U.S. and U.K. English, and I received this comment: And then there is Kiwi English which is another beast again. Even near neighbours like Australians and New Zealanders use English differently. A thong here is underwear - in Australia they're a pair of jandals that you were on your feet. Kiwi English is nearer to British English than it is to either Australian or American English but we have the added advantage of a plethora of Maori words which have come into common usage. I find the divisions of a common language fascinating. Variations in vocabulary and meaning can be an excellent ice breaker in introducing the differences between cultures that on the surface may look very similar but are subtly and often not insubstantially different.

Grammar vs. grammar: You might check out the discussion of grammar in Headsup: The Blog. The writer goes into a lot of detail.

EMAIL: tgilli52@gmail.com BLUESKY: PROFILE