I just used the words "That's total crap" in a meeting about a publication I'm currently editing. How professional am I?
I was referring not only to the publication, which is a disaster, but also the ideology behind some punctuation in the publication. This feature story mentions that a person has 11 children, five of whom are his biological children and six of whom are adopted. But it refers to his "biological" children and adopted children. Biological in quotes, no quotes for adopted. I was told it has something to do with being sensitive when discussing biological vs. adopted children.
This struck me as strange. So I opened one of my favorite books, the Associated Press Stylebook, which informed me that quotations should be used for the following instances: direct or running quotations, dialogue or conversation, composition titles, nicknames, irony or unfamiliar terms.
Are biological children ironic?
I was referring not only to the publication, which is a disaster, but also the ideology behind some punctuation in the publication. This feature story mentions that a person has 11 children, five of whom are his biological children and six of whom are adopted. But it refers to his "biological" children and adopted children. Biological in quotes, no quotes for adopted. I was told it has something to do with being sensitive when discussing biological vs. adopted children.
This struck me as strange. So I opened one of my favorite books, the Associated Press Stylebook, which informed me that quotations should be used for the following instances: direct or running quotations, dialogue or conversation, composition titles, nicknames, irony or unfamiliar terms.
Are biological children ironic?
posted by jersey girl @ 12:41 PM
3 Comments:
At 4/18/2006 2:05 PM,
freakgirl said…
Ha!
It makes it sound like his biological children aren't really his. Like his wife had kids with the mailman and now they are this guy's "biological" children.
I am making airquotes with my fingers.
At 4/18/2006 5:23 PM,
Todd Cohen said…
Irony, huh? Well, I guess you'd use it in this context.
Michael Jackson took his "biological" children into his bedroom.
Yes, I went there.
At 4/18/2006 10:28 PM,
jersey girl said…
Oh Todd, that's just tremendous. I stand, and I applaud.
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