I use Blogger to write these things in part because it has one of the simplest interfaces to use among the blogging sites. I'm far from a techie, and suspect I don't use even a quarter of its potential. The result – all grey, just text and a few pics, is hardly kaleidoscopic but suits my abilities, and I suspect my character, well enough.
It's not perfect, though. Speaking as a professional proofreader and occasional copy editor, there are limitations I've not yet found my way around that drive me crazy, though you may not even notice them. There's an example already in this entry. See that dash between 'result' and 'all' above? That's a hyphen. I typed it as a spaced en dash, but Blogger reproduces it automatically as a hyphen, and there's nothing I can do about it. (Or if there is I'm ignorant of the fix.)
'So what?' you're no doubt thinking. 'What the hell is a spaced en dash anyway?' And in a world where there are much bigger problems, you're right, of course. But to some people - people who look normal on the outside and live and work among you, unnoticed - it elicits either a sigh of resignation, a prickly feeling of indignation or even outrage. I've had to defend myself on my use of dashes here against a proofreading colleague in London back in the day. To some people, this stuff matters.
I offer the comments thread on this piece about the Associated Press, one of the standard-bearers for correct application of punctuation and writing style, going back on a change in their guidance on the use of hyphens, as a clear example of the sort of response this can elicit in some people:
Check out the comments thread.
My personal favourite is the second one. "Please. I have a family." This, and, "I just told my copy desk. They're planning a riot." both provoked a laugh of recognition when I read them. The people who wrote those comments, and their spiritual siblings like me, have to put up with a daily assault of incorrectly spelled and/or wrongly punctuated text from all quarters, even from formerly reliable institutions like the BBC, without exploding in fury and setting fire to everything. Hence the title of this entry. If it were up to me, I'd apply Dalek discipline to these miscreants and exterminate them.
But no. We just have to accept that we're in a shrinking minority and get on with it. At least until the glorious revolution comes and the so-called pedants take over. I shall train my Dalek weaponry on the non-believers, and it won't be the one that looks like a toilet plunger, I assure you. I can only hope that, when that time comes and we're in charge, none of the ruling punctuation elite ever see this blog. They'd see those spaced hyphens and I'd be one of the first against the wall...
(No voy a traducir esta entrada. No tendrá sentido en español.)
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