=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= EDline Vol. 2, no. 14 6 April 1997 Editorial mailing list =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Contents: [1] Editorial Q & A---Previous thread [2hh] Quoting bulleted lists Q & A---New query [2ii] Proprietary and generic drug names FYI [3tt] The power and the glory of conjunctions [5] Bookmarks [6] Administration =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= --[1] Editorial ---------------------------------------------------- First, we would like to extend a warm welcome to all the new subscribers to this mailing list, following the launch on 31st March of the Electric Editors. We're sure you'll all be glad to hear that the Electric Editors project has got off to a great start, with a very encouraging response to the mass mailings that we did during the past week. This new venture has also been publicised in other mailing lists, and the Web site has been receiving a healthy number of visitors. The Web site will be updated regularly, so it's worth checking out the What's New page to keep yourself up to date with the latest developments. Changes this weekend include some new Resources pages, and a page for links to members' home pages. And remember - we're always open to suggestions, so if you have any bright ideas for things that we aren't already covering, send them to: < ElectricEds@bigfoot.com > Back issues of EDline and of the other mailing lists will be posted to the mailing lists archive page. Follow the Mailing Lists link from the Electric Editors home page: < http://www.ikingston.demon.co.uk/ee/home.htm > Jane Kerr and Iain Brown Moderators --[2] Q & A -------------------------------------------------------- [2hh] Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 From: Rich Cutler, rich@mistral.co.uk Re: Quoting bulleted lists > Is there a standard/recommended way of handling a quoted bulleted > list? > Does anybody have an elegant and sensible solution to this problem? I don't know a standard way of quoting a list, but I came across this problem a couple of years ago in an ms I was editing: I styled it as for a displayed quote (which, if as I recall, was 1 pt size smaller than the main text, 1 em indent from left/right margins). Would this work for your list? --------------------- Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 From: Michele Clarke, Michele.Clarke@btinternet.com Two things I would do: 1. Introduce the list by something like 'The following list is adpated/taken from....' 2. Better, make the list a complete quotation and indent it with a different font type as one usually deals with longer quotations, so the use of quotation marks is not needed --------------------- Date: Sun, 6 Apr 1997 From: Jane Kerr, bywater@zetnet.co.uk I'm not sure what design has been adopted for ordinary quotations in the book in question. I think I'll have to adopt the solutions proposed by Rich and Michele (number 2), and hope that the quotation style used in the book is sufficiently distinct from that used for normal bulleted lists. (But I do think quoting lists is a bit of a cop out on the author's part!) +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ [2hh] Date: Tue, 1 Apr 1997 From: Rich Cutler, rich@mistral.co.uk Subject: Proprietary and generic drug names Does anyone know of a Web site that lists proprietary and generic names of all medicines currently in use in the UK and the USA (the former is the more important to me)? Ideally the list would contain associated products such as contrast media, and US equivalent names of those drugs that have them (why do the Americans do this!). I know the British National Formulary lists drug names, but I resent coughing up twice yearly for this when I only use the index! --[3] FYI ---------------------------------------------------------- [3s] Date: Sun, 6 Apr 1997 From: Jane Kerr, bywater@zetnet.co.uk Subject: The power and the glory of conjunctions [The following article is a condensed version of Derwent May's article in _The Times_, Sat, 5 April, p. 20.] What is the most sentimental word in the English language? The answer is the word "but'. I realised that when I started writing the Nature Notes for _The Times_ some years ago. If I wrote "Violets are coming out. Few trees are in leaf yet," I was merely giving the reader information. However, if I wrote "Violets are coming out but few trees are in leaf yet," I was charging the whole scene with emotion, manipulating the reader into a melancholy feeling of winter being slow to go. Furthermore, if I wrote "Few trees are in leaf yet but violets are coming out," I was doing the opposite: cheering the reader with the feeling that spring was already on its way. . . . "And" is a quite different story, and this, too, struck me when I was writing for _The Times_ recently -- a review of a book by the great champion of the Surrealists, Andre Breton. About one of the essays in the book, I first wrote: "This is one of the liveliest accounts of boyish rebellion and nihilism I have ever read." But that, I knew, was weak - and it was the fault of the "and". To link "rebellion" and "nihilism"in that way was slack and inexpressive. I changed it to ". .. one of the liveliest accounts of rebellious, boyish nihilism I have ever read". With that, I hoped, I had achieved a quite different effect. Two abstract nouns slopping about in no sort of relation to each other had given way to a tiny, evolving picture. . . . To shift the focus somewhat, I have been looking at the three main party manifestos in the light of these thoughts. Manifestos do not like the word "but". The words that follow a "but" may make some bold claim about what the party will do; but the emotional charge of "but" works in both directions. So the words that come before the "but" - which are probably an admission of some merit on the part of the other side - get a boost too. . . . One can hear John Major and Tony Blair both saying to their manifesto writers: "But me no buts". In fact, the Conservative manifesto is fairly discreet with them. In Mr Major's foreword there are two sentences beginning with "But". Both follow a statement of good things that the Government has done ... and both promise more of such good things: "But now we have the chance...", "But now we must build on..." In both cases the "But" is slightly dangerous because it throws emphasis back on the fact that not enough of these good things have been done. The Labour manifesto is more risky. There is a dramatic "But" in Mr Blair's first paragraph - "But I believe Britain can and must be better" - which gives a good deal of retrospective emphasis to the suggestion that Britain is pretty good already. Even more dangerously, a whole paragraph soon afterwards begins with "But": "But we have liberated these values from outdated dogma." That "but" certainly reminds the reader both that there are Labour values that are not exclusive to them, and that they have not themselves done too well by those values so far... There are few "ands" in either of those manifestos. Manifesto writers understand that little word's killer effect. Bold assertions and promises have to stand on their own. They can go weak at the knees when yoked together. . . . In fact, three-letter words work far harder than four-letter words - and sometimes as much by their absence as their presence. By their "ands" and their "buts" shall ye know them. --[5] Bookmarks --------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 Apr 1997 From: Ian Kingston, ian@ikingston.demon.co.uk In addition to The Internet Bookshop site featured on the Electric Editors Resources page, there is also its US equivalent, Amazon Books, at < http://www.amazon.com/ > Apart from buying books, you can also use these sites to check bibliographical details - handy if you can't find the book in the Library of Congress online catalogue. Anyone who needs to keep up with the current General Election in the UK might find some of the following Web sites useful. General Election 1997: < http://www.ge97.co.uk/ > BBC Election Coverage: < http://www.bbc.co.uk/election97/ > Independent Television News (ITN) Election Coverage: < http://www.itnelection.co.uk/ > The Independent Newspaper Election Coverage: < http://www.virgin.net/independent97/ > Of these, I like the BBC site best, although the General Election 1997 and Independent newspaper sites are also very good. The ITN site looks very attractive, but (unless I missed something obvious) it lacks detailed background information. --[6] Administration ----------------------------------------------- EDline provides the opportunity for a weekly online discussion of matters editorial and editorial business. * POSTING MESSAGES TO THE LIST All messages to be posted to the list should be sent to Jane Kerr, at: bywater@zetnet.co.uk Include as the subject line, "EDline [topic]", where [topic] is the subject under discussion. Topics might include areas such as Grammar, Spelling, American English or Punctuation. Messages should be pertinent to the basic premise of the list; they may be withheld, or redirected if more pertinent to one of the other mailing lists. The spelling and grammar of messages will *not* be corrected, but some editing of length may be undertaken. Quoting from previous messages: quote as much as you need to make the context of your reply clear, but no more. * Administration All messages of a subscription or administrative nature should be directed to Iain Brown at: i_brown@compuserve.com with "EDline ADMIN" in the subject line. * To subscribe to Grapevine To subscribe to Grapevine, please e-mail Electric Editors at: ElectricEds@bigfoot.com with [Subscribe Grapevine] in the subject line. * To subscribe to LANGline To subscribe to LANGline, please e-mail Electric Editors at: ElectricEds@bigfoot.com with [Subscribe LANGline] in the subject line. *Homepage and back issues: Visit the Electric Editors at: < http://www.ikingston.demon.co.uk/ee/home.htm > Back issues of all three mailing lists are available on the Mailing Lists archive page. --------- ** The views expressed in this mailing list are strictly those of the individual contributors, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the moderators or of the Electric Editors. ** Articles (c) 1997, by individual contributors Design (c) 1996, Iain Brown =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= END OF EDline 2.14 Next issue: 13 Apr 1997 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=