Patrick Neylan

Commentators on @bbctms keep confusing "dissect" (cut up) and "bisect" (cut in half).

@JohnRentoul On general principle, there should be no age-related restrictions on anyone old enough to vote.

Reminder to those arguing for votes at 16: you have to explain why voting is *different* from everything else, not why it should be the same... You can’t marry, serve in a combat role or buy cigarettes until 18

@CollectPlus *till

☀️ Don’t miss a moment of sunshine, Collect+ has you covered! We're open early ‘til late, so you can collect, return, and send parcels at your convenience, all summer long 🌻📦 #SummerVibes #CollectPlus

@TheBonniePrince I see it a lot in UK media now in just the format I used. Very confusing.

@AngrySubEditor I guess that’s an Americanism? But “drops” in that sense in the U.S. is an intransitive verb, so BBC is in such a case failing twice.

Writers should stop using "drop" as a synonym for "release". The headline "BBC drops drama series" suggests that the series has been cancelled.

Sorry, this job ad actually offends me. "Sub Editor - Maidstone ME14" They want an editor, subeditor, writer, picture researcher, marketer, statistician, PA and receptionist. Three days a week, on-site, and you might get as much as £17pa (less if you lack experience).

It's ironic that @ReedsyHQ insists on the highest standards for editors with the stipulation: "If this criteria can’t be fulfilled…"

Every now and then I remind @AmazonUK that their listing for a book I edited shows the cover from a completely different book. Nearly seven years on, they still haven't corrected it because their automated, human-free systems are infallible.

Another email, this time from @ebay, stating: "Ensuring your data is secure is our top priority." It might be important to you – and I hope it is – but I very much doubt it's your top priority.

@APStylebook All right and alright are clearly different. "He is an all-right guy": he is always correct or possibly politically right-wing in all respects. "He is an alright guy": he's not a bad guy.

It’s all right, never alright. Hyphenate only if used colloquially as a compound modifier: He is an all-right guy.

A British perspective on "bail out" vs "bale out": A bail is a bucket, used to throw water out of a sinking boat. So a bail-out is a rescue. A bale is a bundle, sometimes thrown out of a plane, maybe attached to a paratrooper. So a bale-out is an escape or abandonment.

@reading_while True, but none of these are mentioned in the style guide. As it happens, I've just finished proofreading a book (post-layout) for the same organisation and ignored many things I don't like because they're not "wrong".

@AngrySubEditor Some of those alternatives are considered errors depending on style guide used. Again, a proofreader’s role is to catch every possible error, not to decide which are important and which aren’t.

Finished editing a book and got it back from the proofreader (a friend and long-time colleague). He's made nearly 3,000 changes. His mindset seems to be that if he CAN make a change, he will. It doesn't need to be an improvement; it just needs to be possible. #AmEditing

@reading_while You're quite right, of course, but these are alternatives rather than errors (e.g. "need to" instead of "must"). Of the 1,400 odd changes I've reviewed so far, only two were errors. Maybe I shouldn't complain as I'm on an hourly rate.

@AngrySubEditor A proofreader's job is to point out all and any errors. You have the power as editor to stet any of these changes, but you can't make that choice unless he points them all out in the first place.

I'm starting to accept "competency" as "officially certified competence". Maybe I'm late to this one.

@STEcopywriting I did some training of AI models recently. I stopped when it became clear that they didn't want humans to correct AI, they only wanted us to affirm it.

I did computer studies in the 80s. Back then (maybe even now?) there was a phrase: GiGo: garbage in, garbage out. Strikes me this is super relevant to today’s experiments with AI 🤖 Crappy prompts, crappy output. What do you think? #AskTwitter

@STEcopywriting I studied English at Birmingham. Fortunately I'd learned to spell long before I got there.

At least they didn’t misspell GLASS 😅 #TypoTime #LanguageLove

@s8mb Better still, mandate that any announcement audible to the public should be played at the same volume in the CEOs office. They'd soon work out which ones are necessary.

All amplifiers should be banned in public. Buskers and street preachers should be jailed for using them. Playing music through a speaker in the park should incur a fine and a flogging. Loud motorbikes should be impounded. Ambulance siren volumes should be reduced by 80%.

@lukas_ohl @s8mb My ex-girlfriend, a theatre technician, was once asked to lower the volume on the bagpipes. Reply: "They're not miked."

@s8mb Some instruments can be very loud even without amplification. The steel drums at the Notting Hill Carnival can be heard from quite a distance.

@antonhowes @johnmichaelw There's nothing wrong with charities (or anyone else) lobbying. And there's nothing wrong with editors ignoring them.

@johnmichaelw Perhaps a fair point on protests vs proposals. But there are literally hundreds of these proposals every single day, as so many charities have for some reason taken it upon themselves to become lobbying organisations.

Sorry, but why is the BBC just happily regurgitating some charity's press release? I thought the whole point of a public broadcaster was to be better than this. Not to mention that the idea is unbelievably silly and not remotely newsworthy. "Charity calls for X" is not news.