Mike Pope
@mikepope.com
Tech writing & editing (update: now retired), language & words, occasional cats.
Friday words when the mood strikes me (and when it's Friday): https://mikepopewords.com/
Friday words when the mood strikes me (and when it's Friday): https://mikepopewords.com/
WotD: "dummymander", based on "gerrymander" — "when a party stretches its base too thin in pursuit of extra seats."
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
November 7, 2025 at 8:00 PM
WotD: "dummymander", based on "gerrymander" — "when a party stretches its base too thin in pursuit of extra seats."
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
www.dailykos.com/stories/2025...
"It's a good start"
In honour of spooky month, share a 4 word horror story that only someone in your profession would understand.
"I'm correcting your grammar"
"I'm correcting your grammar"
No fee, I'm afraid.
October 12, 2025 at 11:39 PM
"It's a good start"
Words of wisdom today about language learning from @colingorrie.bsky.social
"[grammatical] paradigms are like vitamins. They can be good for you, but don't confuse them with actual food."
"[grammatical] paradigms are like vitamins. They can be good for you, but don't confuse them with actual food."
October 3, 2025 at 8:23 PM
Words of wisdom today about language learning from @colingorrie.bsky.social
"[grammatical] paradigms are like vitamins. They can be good for you, but don't confuse them with actual food."
"[grammatical] paradigms are like vitamins. They can be good for you, but don't confuse them with actual food."
A scary MS Word thing happened today: the Normal template disappeared. I tried to run a macro, but gah, no macros. 😶
BACK UP YOUR NORMAL.DOTM FILE REGULARLY
I use a script+scheduled task to automatically back up (details below), so I was able to recover, yay.
www.mikepope.com/blog/Display...
BACK UP YOUR NORMAL.DOTM FILE REGULARLY
I use a script+scheduled task to automatically back up (details below), so I was able to recover, yay.
www.mikepope.com/blog/Display...
Automatically backing up the Normal.dotm file - mike's web log
www.mikepope.com
September 29, 2025 at 3:16 AM
A scary MS Word thing happened today: the Normal template disappeared. I tried to run a macro, but gah, no macros. 😶
BACK UP YOUR NORMAL.DOTM FILE REGULARLY
I use a script+scheduled task to automatically back up (details below), so I was able to recover, yay.
www.mikepope.com/blog/Display...
BACK UP YOUR NORMAL.DOTM FILE REGULARLY
I use a script+scheduled task to automatically back up (details below), so I was able to recover, yay.
www.mikepope.com/blog/Display...
Happy Caturday, editing edition
September 20, 2025 at 4:33 PM
Happy Caturday, editing edition
A mention today in @bcdreyer.social's substack of "camel case" reminded me that the programming world is rich in the names of ways to case/combine words, including:
UPPERCASE
lowercase
camelCase
PascalCase
snake_case
kebab-case
... and more! [cont.]
UPPERCASE
lowercase
camelCase
PascalCase
snake_case
kebab-case
... and more! [cont.]
bsky.app
September 5, 2025 at 5:01 PM
A mention today in @bcdreyer.social's substack of "camel case" reminded me that the programming world is rich in the names of ways to case/combine words, including:
UPPERCASE
lowercase
camelCase
PascalCase
snake_case
kebab-case
... and more! [cont.]
UPPERCASE
lowercase
camelCase
PascalCase
snake_case
kebab-case
... and more! [cont.]
WotD: Humpty Dumpty Laws
Coined by Gabe Fleisher (with a nod to Alice in Wonderland) for cases where words mean what the president says they mean.
open.substack.com/pub/wakeupto...
Coined by Gabe Fleisher (with a nod to Alice in Wonderland) for cases where words mean what the president says they mean.
open.substack.com/pub/wakeupto...
Humpty Dumpty Laws
Donald Trump vs. the Dictionary
open.substack.com
September 3, 2025 at 3:46 PM
WotD: Humpty Dumpty Laws
Coined by Gabe Fleisher (with a nod to Alice in Wonderland) for cases where words mean what the president says they mean.
open.substack.com/pub/wakeupto...
Coined by Gabe Fleisher (with a nod to Alice in Wonderland) for cases where words mean what the president says they mean.
open.substack.com/pub/wakeupto...
WotD: soft secession
"Blue states building parallel systems, withholding cooperation, and creating facts on the ground that render federal authority meaningless within their borders."
open.substack.com/pub/cmarmita...
"Blue states building parallel systems, withholding cooperation, and creating facts on the ground that render federal authority meaningless within their borders."
open.substack.com/pub/cmarmita...
It’s Time for Americans to Start Talking About “Soft Secession”
Blue states are finally learning what red states have known all along: you don’t need federal permission to govern.
open.substack.com
August 25, 2025 at 7:01 PM
WotD: soft secession
"Blue states building parallel systems, withholding cooperation, and creating facts on the ground that render federal authority meaningless within their borders."
open.substack.com/pub/cmarmita...
"Blue states building parallel systems, withholding cooperation, and creating facts on the ground that render federal authority meaningless within their borders."
open.substack.com/pub/cmarmita...
WotD: pizza tracker. Genericization of the progress bar that Domino's Pizza uses to show an order's status.
"Gong will use 'pizza tracker' as a stand-in for the entire status-bar-and-updates category, much like how people use Kleenex and Band-Aid."
thehustle.co/originals/ho...
"Gong will use 'pizza tracker' as a stand-in for the entire status-bar-and-updates category, much like how people use Kleenex and Band-Aid."
thehustle.co/originals/ho...
How the Domino’s pizza tracker conquered the business world
One cheesy progress update at a time.
thehustle.co
August 24, 2025 at 3:21 PM
WotD: pizza tracker. Genericization of the progress bar that Domino's Pizza uses to show an order's status.
"Gong will use 'pizza tracker' as a stand-in for the entire status-bar-and-updates category, much like how people use Kleenex and Band-Aid."
thehustle.co/originals/ho...
"Gong will use 'pizza tracker' as a stand-in for the entire status-bar-and-updates category, much like how people use Kleenex and Band-Aid."
thehustle.co/originals/ho...
WotD: nutpicking — highlighting random people as supposed representatives of an opposing side.
August 9, 2025 at 6:21 PM
WotD: nutpicking — highlighting random people as supposed representatives of an opposing side.
