Lapsing into a Comma : A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print--and How to Avoid Them

"Lapsing Into a Comma: A Curmudgeon's Guide to the Many Things That Can Go Wrong in Print -- and How to Avoid Them" was written by the late Bill Walsh (1961-2017), a copy editor at the Washington Post for two decades. The book's lessons on grammar and spelling are valuable. Walsh's examples did an excellent job of pointing out differences between two things that could create confusion or that just weren't the same things.

But don't get the idea that Walsh was overly rigid. He stressed repeatedly the importance to effective communication of clarity of meaning. And all the while, did so with humor. There were times I chuckled aloud. Occasionally I felt as if the book had been written by some combination of Robin Williams and Rodney show more Dangerfield.

Even if one read's "Lapsing Into a Comma" purely for the entertainment of Walsh's style without remembering any of its lessons, I recommend the book. show less

Bill Walsh’s ‘Lapsing into a comma’ is an invaluable guide to punctuation, and I assume the target audience is writers, editors and anyone interested in mastering the intricacies of punctuation in the English language.
Many may not understand the word, ‘curmudgeon’ a bad-tempered person. Maybe, a grump. Bill Walsh’s use of this word sets the tone, which is opinionated, with a blend of with, humor, plain speak, and strong opinions.
The book is accessible and will not be a problem for anyone to follow. Some may consider him opinionated. Bill Walsh follows the AP stylebook, whereas many essayists may follow the Chicago Manual of Style.
The only problem in the book is that, even though it is lively and easy to follow, it show more contains so many suggestions that most people will find it hard to remember everything that has been said!
Use the book as a reference. show less

Funny to read a 17 year old book covering weird constructions entering the lexicon then, to realize how many of them either dropped off or became totally normal, and to be reminded of how many of our culture wars get fought on a linguistic battlefield.

Summary: This book is divided into two parts: the first contains short chapters on various topics in writing (capitalization in the Internet era, vagaries of punctuation, etc.), while the second is a style guide written in short entries.

Review: While I found this book to be interesting, and frequently amusing, I didn't find it as applicable (and therefore useful) as I was hoping. The book is geared more towards copy editors than towards writers, and specifically towards newspaper employees. I am always interested in improving my writing, but a large chunk of this book just didn't apply. Conciseness is always important, but I don't have the same space worries as newspaper writers, nor am I particularly concerned with headlines. Some show more entries in the style guide are more relevant, although if I don't already know the correct way, I doubt I'll be able to remember it's a problem, much less figure out where to look for the issue in the (admittedly very thorough) index. Part of the problem is that it's not a comprehensive style guide, but rather an potpourri of issues with grammar, style, and spelling that Walsh finds annoying or problematic, so any particular style issue a writer faces may or may not be included. Finally, I had the same problem with this book as I did with Eats, Shoots, and Leaves - I get so hyper-style-conscious about my own writing that soon everything starts to look wrong, and I probably introduce more errors through overcorrecting than would have been there had I not read the book in the first place.

Recommendation: A diverting-enough book, but I'm having a hard time pinpointing the target audience. It's too specialized to be really applicable to the general public (or to writers in general), but those who would find it relevant and helpful would probably want something more comprehensive. show less

A funny look at grammar and writing style and the rules behind them. This is a style guide so a little dry for the causual reader, but if you're looking for a guide to American grammar then this is a good one to choose. The examples are clear, the descriptions often humourous and he covers all the pitfalls that you might come up against. If you're looking for a guide to British grammar, then I'd recommend the Economist style guide.

For complete review, visit: http://bit.ly/LYlYyS

As a stickler for correctness and very old school when it comes to dangling participles and split infinitives, not to mention the whole issue of constantly morphing comma usage, I find myself wandering through mine fields of doubt when writing in a contemporary voice. American English is not what it was fifty or even thirty years ago when I was diagramming sentences in sophomore English. We've loosened up. We've accommodated change. Whether that is a good thing or a bad thing is a matter for debate, but it is so, and so we adapt or become obsolete.

Mr. Walsh does a terrific job of guiding writers around the pitfalls and ambiguities which have resulted in American English getting hip. And, show more he does it with authority: Here's Goodread's author bio:
Bill Walsh was born in Pennsylvania coal country but grew up in Madison Heights, Mich., and Mesa, Ariz. He is a 1984 journalism graduate of the University of Arizona and has worked as a reporter and editor at the Phoenix Gazette and an editor at the Washington Times and the Washington Post. He is now the chief copy editor for national news at the Post.
Language is my living. I forge words and thought into meaningful communication. Whether someone else's words or my own, I manipulate them in image, print and page, hopefully creating a coherent whole. And that coherence depends a great deal in understanding my audience. Whether I'm editing a manuscript or a master's thesis, transcribing medical documentation or personal history interviews, constructing business prospectuses, blogging, or writing historical fiction in my Regency voice, the form and style I use must connect with the reader, rather than throw up roadblocks because we're not really speaking the same language.

Changing voices strikes dread in my heart at times (I'm much better at clinical than casual) and I accept the degeneration of change in language usage kicking and screaming. However, Mr. Walsh is of my generation, far better educated, and is editor of one of the most respected journals in the country. So, whenever I argue with myself about who vs. whom or the proper placement of commas this week, I find refer to his opinion.

Then, I go and do what I want anyway. show less

Bill Walsh makes it clear that he is a liberal copy editor for the Washington Post...and that's fine. I have no problem reading books written by liberals on how to write propr sentences. But, he won't get a 5 star rating from me because stating his political bias has nothing to do with writing proper sentences, and insulting the right-wing by calling them "kooks" (p. 26) has nothing to do with sentence structure. On the other hand he did use CNN as an example of lying journalists (p. 62). Something we all know but lefts won't ever admit. CNN came to the pinnacle of their lies in 2016 when Donald Trump became President, and they continue to this day.

Times have sure changed since the publishing of this book in 2000, or Bill Walsh was show more clueless of the facts that mainly left-wing politicians (Democrats) and some Republicans are the ones leading us to a one-world government, not the "right-wing-conspiracy-nut community", as he claims (p. 87). Today, in 2018, the media is following the left, along with the uninformed and the millennials who are attending college today are being indoctrinated with this socialist one-world propaganda. That's why there is such a division and escalating chaos here in America today. Walsh is no longer with us today to see that this transition in the U.S. is true and being lead by the left-wing-conspiracy-nut community. He died March 15, 2017.

Now, see? Wouldn't it have been better had he left out all the jabs towards the people on the right and kept the focus on the proper way of writing sentences? Bill Walsh was known as the "Grammar Geek" of the Washington Post. Regardless, there really are a lot of good writing tips in here. That...I can appreciate!

The Enlish language is forever evolving and sometimes there are no hard and fast rules for phrasing sentences and word use. Some of it is purely editor's preference.

Words are added or removed from dictionaries depending on how often they are used or not. Words can become so popular even if it's wrong. For example: Hacker is really a person who knows commuter programming very well. Cracker is one who looks for ways to criminally break into commuters to steal identities and such. But, somehow someone got away with using the word hacker and it became so popular and is now the word for criminals breaking into computers, and you might even be hard-pressed to even find the original meaning of cracker in today's dictionary because it is politically unacceptable.

Chapter 10, which is the last half of the book, is Bill Walsh's search-and-replace editing style guide of words and phrases he doesn't like to see in newsprint and he gives suggestions on the proper words and phrases to use in its place. A lot of this information can apply to other writings as well. He goes over the subtle play on words, hyphens and punctuations that could slightly change the meaning of a sentence ... some things I never would have thought about. show less