The aim of proper punctuation is not just to blindly hew to a set of inflexible rules; it’s to clarify. In fact, that’s what grammar’s all about.

I bring this up because, as a sometime editor, I too often find myself defending old-school practices like hyphenating compound modifiers and adding the serial comma. It’s not that folks don’t understand. They just don’t see the point.

The point is, there’s simply no reason not to employ the serial comma. And there aren’t very many reasons not to hyphenate compound modifiers. But there’s one big reason why one should: it makes clear your intent. The easier it is for someone to read your writing, the greater the likelihood that it’ll actually get read.

Which is sort of why one writes. Isn’t it?

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

Duke University has opened up its digital archive of vintage television ads. There are thousands of ’em, and they’re available in iTunes—free.  Check it out.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Because it’s Friday—and to make up for letting all of Wednesday go by without posting—I present April Smith and the Great Picture Show, from 2010’s Songs for a Sinking Ship:

[audio:https://helveticka.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/02-Terrible-Things.mp3|titles=02 Terrible Things]

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Behold! The Omnificent English Dictionary In Limerick Form—quite possibly the greatest achievement in publishing since Euclid’s Elements was first set in type. No, really. I mean it. Check out the entry for Caux, Switzerland:

The beautiful village of Caux
Is a place where the peacemakers gaux.
Around it is Switzerland:
Mountainous bits o’ land
Covered in powdery snaux.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: the writing life  |  make a comment

Today is Bubble Wrap Appreciation Day. To celebrate, employees at Sealed Air, which manufactures $4 billion of the stuff annually, get their own sheets to play with at their desks.

Milton Babbitt, the American composer who believed that those in his line of work, if serious, shouldn’t concern themselves with the average listener, has died. There is perhaps some truth to Babbitt’s thinking, which, like his music, followed Schoenberg’s dictum that “if it is art, it is not for all, and if it is for all, it is not art.”

Book report: The Little Stranger, by Sarah Waters, is sublime. Part ghost story, part social history, part English period piece, it also manages to be both a great work of literature and a gripping page-turner of a novel. Highly recommended.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

Turns out Vladimir Nabokov—author of Bend Sinister, Lolita, and Pale Fire, among others—was right all along when he hypothesized that butterflies came to the New World from Asia.

Nabokov, an amateur, self-taught lepidopterist, came up with his theory in 1945. Then, the experts blew him off; nearly seven decades later, the old man is vindicated. Put that in your pipes and smoke ’em, you over-credentialed hacks.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts the writing life  |  make a comment

Descending into the bowels* of the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture this afternoon, I happened to notice, hanging on the wall, an old sign for what was once a stationery company. I can’t remember the name of the business, but the tagline on the sign read something like, “If its made of paper, we sell it.”

Did you catch the error? No? I’m not surprised. The question of whether to use “its” or “it’s” manages to confound even the most diligent of writers. Good thing I’m here to set things straight:

• “its” is a possessive pronoun, like “his,” “hers,” or “theirs”
• “it’s” is a contraction that always means either “it is” or “it has”

See? That’s not so hard, is it? The tagline should therefore read, “If it’s made of paper, we sell it.”

*It was pretty disappointing, actually. Seems to me that a museum basement ought to be musty, dirty, dark, cobwebbed, and, well…spooky. The MAC’s? More like an operating room.

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment

In honor of Gary Burton‘s birthday—which is this Sunday—I’m a-gonna treat you to a funky little blues number of his called “Walter L.” It’s from 2009’s Quartet Live, and features, in addition to Burton on vibes, Pat Metheny (guitar), bassist Steve Swallow, and Antonio Sanchez on drums.

Take it away, Gary:

[audio:https://helveticka.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/05-Walter-L.mp3|titles=05 Walter L]

posted by: Aaron Bragg  |  category: random thoughts  |  make a comment