Thursday, December 16, 2010

Till the New Year

Photo credit: Scott Clark

Hello friends, clients, and colleagues,

Hopefully just like yours, our office will be closed officially Monday, December 20th, and back up and running Monday, January 3. We’ll kick off the holiday with our toddler’s Montessori Christmas concert tomorrow, which will most certainly be derailed by the just-announced participation of our former babysitter (and ECE student) who so terrifies said toddler he goes hysterical every time he spots her in our neighborhood. It should be good.

Wishing you much more serenity that we will achieve this holiday, and just as much laughter and joy,

Kiley and Craig

p.s. No, that poor boy in the pic is not ours.

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Grinchy Grouchy Weekly Geekly Final Five

Photo credit: Mel1st

I’ve been feeling all warm and fuzzy this week so it’s time to nip it in the bud and get all rigid and unforgiving with a final installment of the regular column I’ve updated so fastidiously (!) all year: Weekly Geek. I’m going to answer five queries I hear all the time, sometimes from across the room, so I can forevermore just whip this URL over to the questioner. Without further ado:

When do I use ...

Every day vs. everyday: Use every day very literally, as in “It rained every day that week.” Use everyday as an adjective to describe a mundane or common occurrence: “It was an everyday sort of meeting—no VIPs in attendance, nothing major on the agenda, and nothing I couldn’t back out of.”

Any time vs. anytime: Similarly, use any time literally, as in “Is there any time for us to grab a quick bite?” Meanwhile, equate anytime with whenever: “Call me anytime.”

I am deathly afraid of being rapped on the knuckles if I don’t put two spaces after a period ...

Don’t be, unless you’re in school and they insist on it in the style guide they’re using. You won’t find that double space anywhere in a published article, book, or work written by a professional writer. Trust them. Personally, I wince when I see that gaping space and find it hard to make it to the next sentence.

What’s the difference between or and nor?

If you have neither in the sentence, use nor (think two n’s). If you have either in the sentence, use or.

What do I do with periods and commas when I’ve got meddlesome quotation marks to deal with?

Put them INSIDE the quotation marks, Craig, if you live in North America—which you do (e.g., Her colleague mumbled “tyrant,” then fled from the room ...). Putting them outside is a British thing.

Toward or towards?

This is another NA/British thing. Toward is North American and towards is British.

Ho ho ho! There, it’s out. Now I’m loose as a goose and at one with the universe.