AP Style, we all love it. We loved to learn it. And now I love to teach it.
Love might be a strong word.
I do like to use it. I do enjoy a good editing session. Teaching AP Style is of course valuable. Designing the lecture isn’t the most fun you’ve ever had with the venerable old reference book — and yes, I still have my original Stylebook.
And, no, I will not start the ebay search for the original Stylebook.
I’ve been condensing a bunch of style tips, however, and passed those around to my editing class. The trick is to not repeat word-for-word the paper you’ve given to students.
So I have some editing exercises for tomorrow. Each of these stories, a fatal arson, a domestic dispute, bad city government and more, take place in one fake city. It sounds like a terrible place to live. If I ever teach a public relations class I’ll have to use the same fake city when I write press releases about the new park for special needs children and green initiatives downtown, just to balance things out.
Because one does not wish to offend the fictional residents of a fictional city, that’s why.
Had lunch at Pannie-George’s, a meat-and-three that quotes Nehemiah on their business cards and website. Can’t go wrong there. Or here:
We are not just a restaurant for people to come and eat, but it is a place where people are welcomed and treated like a respected member of the Pannie-George’s family … The main ingredient in our food is LOVE.
I’m told the pork chops are delicious, but I only eat those at home. I had the chicken and rice, but the sweet potatoes were the biggest hit. And the people there. Everyone was “Love” or “Sugar” or “Hon” in that extended Southern family of nurture kind of way.
It is knowing that someone else’s family has wrapped their arms around you, making their family bigger and role more important. That’s a tireless feeling.
But we’re eating lunch with a friend who’s about to take a trip to northern Europe. He’s seeking my advice because I just came back from Europe. It feels stupid to give this advice because I’ve been to southern Europe and you know there are differences. Why else have the distinctions?
So, never mind, dear friend that you are going to different countries let alone different cities than I visited, I get to play the expert. Because my advice on Rome will be so helpful to him in Prague. But I spent two weeks in Europe; I’m an expert on generalities.
Here’s the book, here’s the money wallet. Watch your backpack, find the embassy. Don’t worry, you will look like an American. I’m guessing all of this was different a century ago, or people just didn’t write about their banal worries and fears in their travelogues. Of course fellow travelers then couldn’t download region specific podcasts to their iPads, and they didn’t have in-seat movies on their steamships, so the trade offs probably balance out.
Haven’t watched Monday Night Football in several years. My interest in the professional game has more than waned, I suppose. I blame the broadcasting. This isn’t helping:
Ouch. I turned on the television this evening out of want for background noise and that was the second thing on the screen. I think there’s a comma splice in the scripted copy.
Tomorrow: class! The paper! Black and whites! More!
