Disambiguation alert: two different Janes are mentioned in this post.
Jane McGary wrote: The standard style used by publishers, at least in
English and
currently, is to use only the first roman character
in response to Dave
Dobaks no style book is available to
me which would provide guidance on which initials are properly treated in
this manner.
I dont think proper usage and the sort of usage which adheres to a
particular style sheet are the same thing. Janes advice is excellent advice
for anyone hired to write: after all, youre getting paid to provide what
your employer wants, and if your employer has gone to the trouble to provide
a style sheet, then you have your work cut out for you.
But in any discussion of grammar and other activities relating to writing,
there is an elephant in the room which is universally ignored. That elephant
is the absence of a standard, universally accepted grammar or style sheet
for American English. Were a do-it-yourself nation, yet one also willing to
buy into readily available instant fixes when its apparent that something
has gone wrong. Many writers of my generation were led to the altar of
Strunk & White for appropriate catechism. Yet I recently read that the
treatment of the passive voice in Strunk & White is, in a word, wrong.
Decades passed and no one noticed this or at least if they did, they
didnt noise it around. As for the rest of us, I guess as the catechist
turned his back, we were snickering about the open seam in his pants and
ignoring the lesson.
So back to the use of Ph, Th and Ch and the doubled initials for series :
the editor for whom I work allows the use of these. Hes a bit of a maverick
in this regard. Im assured that it will not jeopardize my job or make a bit
of difference in my compensation.
Speaking of compensation (heres where the other Jane enters):
Jane Hendricks gets public praise for posting pictures and I, in constant
risk of carpel tunnel syndrome, get nothing. Pictures? All a picture takes
is an almost imperceptible flexion of a digit. Anyone can take pictures.
Just because a picture is worth a thousand words, and a thousand times the
number of pictures Jane has posted is a pretty impressive sum, a sum much
greater that that of my carefully considered and individually typed words
of prose, shouldnt there be an award for those of us who crank it out so
copiously?
So wheres my pizza? Those of you who are belly-aching about the volume of
posts on what one former subscriber kindly called McKenney-L should know
that I cant type or even think clearly when Im stuffing my face with
pizza.
Jim McKenney
[email protected]
Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone
7
My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com
BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/
Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS
Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org
Webmaster Potomac Lily Society http://www.potomaclilysociety.org
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