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Stan Carey

@stancarey.bsky.social

4.5K followers 250 following 1.6K posts

Editor, writer, lapsed biologist in the west of Ireland Copy-editing, writing: https://stancarey.com Language: https://stancarey.wordpress.com Strong language: https://stronglang.wordpress.com 🎞 https://letterboxd.com/stancarey 🦣 @[email protected]

stancarey.com

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · Nov 10

I should introduce myself, now that the world is ending. I'm a freelance copy-editor/proofreader from Ireland. And I write, mostly about language: stancarey.com
stancarey.wordpress.com

I hike a bit and always have a book on the go and a film in mind. Background in biology; environmentalist at heart

Stan Carey editing and proofreading | Tidy, tighten, or transform your text

stancarey.com

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 15h

Yes: "would've" is a contraction of "would have". I address this in paragraph 1.

Reposted by Stan Carey

Peter Sokolowski @petersokolowski.bsky.social · 17h

spidermanicule

Steven Van Impe @svanimpe.bsky.social · 4d

#EarlyModern meme! #BookHistory

The bottom of a page of printed text, showing three hands (or printers' fists) pointing at each other.

The spiderman meme: three spidermen pointing at each other.

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 17h

spidermanicule is the best blend I've seen in aeons

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

The elusive triple "is"! languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3452

Language Log » The elusive triple "is"

languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

Some authors who have used "would of", etc:

Hilary Mantel, Margaret Atwood, Raymond Carver, Patrick O'Brian, Sylvia Plath, Shirley Jackson, Octavia Butler, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, James Baldwin, Anne Tyler, Elmore Leonard, Carson McCullers, Terry Pratchett, Dylan Thomas, Agatha Christie

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

Basically yes, though NB I'm not a linguist either. "Thing is" seems to have become a kind of fused unit, the "is" having been bleached of its former copular function. But I wouldn't call "thing is" a word just yet!

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

I'd say that falls under lexicalization. But something different from "would of" (or "would've of") is going on, syntactically, with "is is", a construction that has attracted a lot of attention from linguists ygdp.yale.edu/phenomena/do...

Double is | Yale Grammatical Diversity Project: English in North America

ygdp.yale.edu

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Reposted by Stan Carey

Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 1d

And whatever would of walked there, would of walked alone.

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

oh no

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

Don't mind me, I'm just here fantasizing about a publicly available exchange between the two of you on the subject of English usage

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

"would of" (and "shouldn't of" and "ought to of") get the green light from Shirley Jackson AND Benjamin Dreyer

Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 1d

I’m happy to take credit for encountering the Let Me Tell You examples in copyediting and merrily thinking If that’s what Shirley wants, then we’re good to go.

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Reposted by Stan Carey

Ellen Forget @ellenforget.bsky.social · 4d

Can anyone recommend an academic audiobook that was well done? Looking for a good example of how to handle citations, footnotes, bibliography, etc. in audiobook format. Ideally an academic monograph. Please only recommend if you've read the audiobook and thought it was well done.

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

Not something I can help with, I'm afraid, but I've passed it on to someone who might

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

Oh yes! I read that marvellous collection before I knew you copy-edited it. Glad to get this insider report.

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

I haven't seen them here, but it's possible they're showing up in specialist shops. Wouldn't be in a rush to try them myself, but I get enough non-meat protein in my diet anyway

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

My first thought was that it was an editing error: changing "would of" to "would've" and forgetting to delete the "of".

But a search suggests niche usage of the doubled-up version. LLog has looked at similar cases, e.g. "wouldn't of have" [2/2]

languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1162 #language

Language Log » Wouldn't of have

languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

"Would of" (for "would've) and other modal+"of" phrases are surprisingly common in literature – see the link below for loads of examples

But I've seldom if ever seen both at once: "would've of" (from Jim Nesbit's novel Lethal Injection) [1/2]

stancarey.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/w... #writing

"Well, I'll be damned," Eddie said. "I never would've of thought you had it in you."

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 1d

I like how Mike McCormack tackled this in Solar Bones: the same flowing rush-of-thought effect but with plenty of breaks, so you don't feel overwhelmed reading it

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 2d

It's working okay for me too, in Firefox and Opera

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 3d

It would if it wasn't already taken by slang! Have you tried this dish?

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Reposted by Stan Carey

Ada Palmer @adapalmer.bsky.social · 5d

I see pieces like this a lot, often w/ a spin of lamenting cultural degeneration, but reading is a LABOR issue, it’s declined because so many people are working overtime or two jobs & employers expect after hours work. France has Earth’s highest reading rate b/c long lunch breaks & labor protections

After Dinner Conversation® @afterdinnerconversation.com · 5d

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 3d

News reporting "obscures a key driver of the climate crisis": meat production www.theguardian.com/environment/... #climate

Meat is a leading emissions source – but few outlets report on it, analysis finds

Sentient Media reveals less than 4% of climate news stories mention animal agriculture as source of carbon emissions

www.theguardian.com

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Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 3d

You're probably right

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 3d

We're a rule-loving species. Some people never met a usage rule (however ill-founded) that they didn't immediately add to their arsenal of arbitrary nonsense with which get one up on other people

bsky.app/profile/tiny...

Dave Mathieson @tinydbass.bsky.social · 3d

It's weird letting grammar rules take precedent over readability. I'm pretty pedantic about a lot of this stuff, but only because poor grammar, spelling, punctuation etc. push unnecessary work onto me, the reader, which ultimately dilutes what the writer is trying to say.

Stan Carey @stancarey.bsky.social · 3d

I like and use the Oxford comma, fwiw. But the tribal zeal it inspires is as misplaced as it is tiresome

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