Our next general meeting will be on Wednesday, 29 June, at 6.00 for 6.30 pm, in the Friends Lounge of the National Library.
Gary Wilson from PaperlinX will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about paper but were afraid to ask.
PaperlinX is the world's leading fine paper merchant, employing over 10,000 people in 29 countries and selling over four and a half million tonnes of paper and packaging materials worldwide.
In Australia it operates four paper mills. It is the largest supplier to the Australian market of office paper used for printing, copying and plain paper faxes, and also a range of specialty papers from security grades to food packaging.
Definitely not to be missed!
And coming shortly…
6.00 for 6.30 pm, in the Aegean Room of the Hellenic Club.
Do come along. Nobody will twist your arm to do something you don't want to.
But why not volunteer for a place on the committee and help steer your society in the right direction?
A nomination form will soon be up on the web site - print it off, fill it out and send it in!
31 August: IPE, the new Institute of Professional Editors - what's in it for you?
- Next meeting
- From the President
- Minding my p's and q's ...
- IPE notes
- Training news
- Australian English
- Thinking about words
- Track changers - Jenny Cook
- New members
- Copyright and deadlines
Dear everyone,
Not this next meeting, but the one after, your hard-working committee has organised a great night out for you at the AGM and I hope that lots of you will join us for both the meeting and the dinner. There's plenty of room!
You know that this will be your opportunity to influence the destiny of the Society by voting for (and nominating for) committee positions. The president's and treasurer's positions will definitely be vacant, but there are many other interesting jobs to do. And there is often a mini reshuffle of the other positions in a new committee. So if you are considering it, have a go!
Last month's meeting was great fun. Plenty of pre-meeting mingling, with delicious snacks and drinks. Apart from Pauline's excellent presentation, we had a lively discussion on points of grammar (subjunctives were mentioned…), followed by a scrumptious Italian meal at Figaro's in Kingston.
The topic of the meeting this month will also certainly be of interest to many of our members, especially to our recently joined new and associate members. The last presentation from a paper company that I remember was when we were still meeting at the CSIRO theatre in Campbell, and I don't think there has been another one since.
There have probably been a few new paper products since then! Even if we do not necessarily have to make decisions about paper in the majority of our jobs, it is important to know what designers and project managers are talking about in some of those production meetings.
So, see you there (and don't forget the AGM at the Hellenic Club on 27 July).
Claudia Marchesi
President
This is my penultimate - there's that wondrous word again! - column, as I'll be stepping down from the editor's position come July.
Meanwhile, I've just about finished editing the eighth edition of the Freelance register. Why does such a publication need to be edited? I hear you ask. All I've tried to do is standardise the entries so that prospective clients are able to follow it with ease.
After Louise Oliver has cast her eagle eye over it to make sure that things are as consistent as possible, Ed Highley will apply his design and typesetting skills to get the register ready for the printer. We anticipate that Government departments and agencies should receive the printed copies of the Freelance register by the end of July.
Ara Nalbandian
I've been asked several times recently to write something about disclaimers, so I'm just sharing with you some disclaimers I've used in quotes for editing and writing jobs, and, for comparison, some website and email disclaimers I have been involved in preparing. It won't answer all the questions, but may stimulate discussion and help you to start thinking about writing a disclaimer in your next quote.
You need to protect yourself, as far as you can, from legal action arising out of the material you work on, and from the possibility that some information may be out of date or inaccurate, through no fault of your own. You need to be clear about where your liability ends and becomes someone else's responsibility.
For anything more than a very simple disclaimer, it is probably a good idea to get legal advice. However, even a lawyer will tell you that a disclaimer will not protect you from determined legal action - it is only a deterrent.
I use the following simple disclaimer when quoting for most editing jobs, particularly jobs I like doing and where I know the client and I get on very well:
I should emphasise that my editing is my recommendation only. The [client] is free to accept or reject my recommendations, and I do not assume any liability for what may ensue from the [client's] acceptance or rejection of my recommendations.
It is by no means legally binding, but is a help in getting my point of view across.
I have edited scripts for phone messages, and this is a different ball game. The person recording the script could misread a word or could put the emphasis in the wrong place. I don't want to be responsible for what might ensue as a result of an actor's poor performance. Mind you, I have a lot of experience in radio script writing, so I know what will work and what won't. Here is the disclaimer I used several times for that sort of job:
I have to emphasise that all editing I do is my recommendation only. It is up to you [project manager] and [client] to accept or reject any of my suggested alterations to the text, and I cannot be held responsible for any misunderstandings that may occur as a result of what finally appears in the recorded messages.
A newsletter that I prepare has a section called Diary Dates. I gather information for this section from many sources - personal communication, websites, other newsletters, etc - and this is the disclaimer:
Diary Dates information comes from a variety of sources. No liability for the accuracy of dates or other content is assumed. For details, please refer to the respective contact organisations or persons.
It is very important that websites carry disclaimers. The Australian Government Culture and Recreation Portal recommends: 'if your website carries information which may influence the behaviour or activities of others, which makes any claims, or is sensitive in some way, then it may be worth getting legal advice from experts about what exactly you should include in your site's disclaimer'. It is vital in the case of voluntary organisations that do not have the money for hefty insurance premiums but want to protect themselves as well as they can. Here is part of the disclaimer that appears on the website of RAPlink Incorporated, a voluntary group that I am associated with:
… We try at all times to present accurate information and to recommend reliable links. At all times we will act in good faith to provide the information sought. However, we depend on information given to us by both the communities seeking the information or advice and the potential providers of the information or advice.
… the onus of assessing the accuracy and relevance of the information or advice provided by RAPlink Incorporated must lie with the community seeking assistance from RAPlink Incorporated. It is strongly recommended that if the community is in doubt about the quality of advice or assistance offered, they should seek other advice.
The full disclaimer, a link to which appears on every page of the website <http://users.tpg.com.au/raplink>, was the result of lengthy consultation with a lawyer.
and other disclamatory points.
Part of the rationale of many disclaimers is to include a mention of privacy policy, as in this example:
Material in this email is intended for the person or persons to whom it is addressed. It may not be passed on to anyone without permission from [name of organisation]. If you believe you have received this email (including attachment/s if any) in error, please contact the writer and immediately trash the email.
Disclaimers go some way towards protecting both editors/writers and their clients. In the sort of work we do, often a disclaimer is sufficient, but if in doubt, seek legal advice.
There are some useful websites that provide guidance on setting out disclaimers. They include:
(Australian Government, Culture & Recreation Portal - look for Disclaimers: Internet Development Guide); and
(University of Melbourne site - Information Technology Policies, Strategies & Procedures Guide - Appendix A: Communications Disclaimers).
© Elizabeth Manning Murphy 2005
The Accreditation Board held its inaugural meeting in Sydney on 21-22 May. It has Robin Bennett as its newly elected chair, Ed Highley representing IPE, Louise Forster from Canberra, Shelley Kenigsberg of NSW, Karen Disney of SA, Helen Moore of Victoria and Alison Savage of Tasmania. Robin Bennett represented Queensland and Isabel Workman of NSW attended as minutes secretary. Two other representatives will join the Board soon, one from WA and one from the assessors panel.
It is crucial to have a clearly recognised and objective minimum standard for accreditation so that applicants know exactly what is expected of them. The Board will consult on this issue at the October conference. It also plans to keep members informed and encourage feedback with a feature called Cred Ability which will appear regularly in the societies' newsletters.
Besides this, the Board mapped out areas that need research and consultation. These include its own constitution; the appointment of the secretariat; arrangements to cover conflict of interest and confidentiality of applications; sponsorship and financial management; promotion of the scheme; and legal protection and insurance.
Meanwhile, the National Organisation Working Group is finalising its issues paper and expects to present it to members for discussion in the near future.
Janet Mackenzie, IPE Liaison Officer
<www.case-editors.org>
The training program for 2005 continues with two training sessions now planned:
• Working with Designers and Printers: on Saturday, 16 July, from 9.00 am to 1.30 pm. Philippa Hays and Julie Bradley will provide some essential information to assist you in this aspect of your role. Registration closes on Friday, 8 July.
• Proofreading on Saturday, 13 August, from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm. Helen Topor, member of the Society, will take participants through the purposes of proofreading, the differences between copyediting and proofreading, when and how it's done, and challenges facing new proofreaders. Registration closes on Friday, 5 August.
All the information you need about content, cost and registration can be found on our web Notice Board at <www.editorscanberra.org/notices.htm>.
I welcome any feedback on the training sessions we have held and your ideas for future training. Contact <shirley.dyson@ozemail.com.au>.
Shirley Dyson
Dr Pauline Bryant, a Visiting Fellow in the School of Language Studies at ANU, made a welcome return as guest speaker at the May general meeting of the society. Pauline's particular interest in Australian English and the role of language in society was evident as she entertained and edified the well-attended gathering of editors. She spoke on how Australian English has been changing since the time of the first British settlers - and the changes continue, particularly under the influence of American English. Editors are well placed to monitor these changes. The talk explored the changes and our attitudes to them.
Beginning her talk with a demonstration using real chips and fries, Pauline talked about borrowing being one of the ways in which language changes. Some of these changes are good; others aren't. We have to balance maintaining standards with not being afraid of new things. Resisting changes by continuing to use the old words only makes us sound like old fuddy-duddies, e.g. chips/fries. By taking a word from American English, we have made a finer distinction: where once chips had to do for 'both the fat sort and the thin sort', we now have a word for each type. Borrowing from other languages has given English a huge vocabulary and continues to do so, with about 47 per cent being from French.
Language changes constantly whether we'd like it to or not, and we don't have to approve of those changes. All aspects of language can change, vocabulary being the easiest part to change and the most noticeable, while grammar is fairly hard to change. Accents are generally of less interest to editors nowadays. Language manners also change. Letters used to end in I remain, Sir, your most obedient servant but now even Yours faithfully has pretty well gone. Once we used to address people formally; now we use first names for nearly everyone. Swearing couldn't be used on radio or TV even a few years ago, but now stations just preface the program with the warning that there will be coarse language. The people who have most trouble with language change are those who feel safest when everything stays exactly the same. That includes language ways they learnt when they were at school. A lot of what we consider correctness was, however, only what was in fashion at a particular time, such as punctuation (comma after the subordinate clause at the beginning of a sentence or commas round interpolations) and spelling (all right/alright; roofs/rooves).
Changes in Australian English involve three time-slices: the first British settlement, post-WW II, and the modern age.
English in Australia has been changing since 26 January 1788. The first settlers had to reach compromises on dialect words they brought with them: harvesting/reaping/stripping, jetty/pier. They needed new words for animals and plants they came across in Australia. They borrowed Aboriginal words such as kookaburra from Wiradjuri gugbarra (imitative) or used a word they already had for something that looked similar - for example, cockatoo from Malay kakatua. Other words for new things in Australia include Devon, parking inspectors, telegraph poles and street directories.
The prestige form of English was British English, but this changed to American English after the war. A British accent (or a close imitation thereof) was obligatory on the ABC before the war. American soldiers on R&R in Australia during the war and American power after the war led to American accents being more prestigious on commercial radio. Such accents are still prestigious in advertising circles. Ads that use American accents include My store Myer, sung with an American retroflex r at the end. The use of Australian accents wasn't regarded appropriate until the late 1970s; Pauline cited the fuss over Nyree Creed's Australian accent on the ABC. Now it's all right to sound Australian on Australian radio and television except in ads.
We use linguistic changes that occur elsewhere in the English-speaking world. Those changes allow us to see what has gone on in the rest of the world. When people look back to the 1990s, they'll know what changes were afoot in society by the new words that appeared, for example in space travel (astronaut, cosmonaut, spaceship - all taken from the vocabulary of ships) and war (shell shock, combat fatigue, post traumatic stress disorder). New and newly significant words tell us about the age of technology and about social change. For instance, the computer age has given us such words as byte, RAM, ROM, microchip, floppy disk, and chat had acquired a wider meaning. Changes brought by computers are relevant to editors. Complaints abound that email makes people careless with writing - they don't check before they send messages. But one has to type carefully and proofread accurately when typing in URLs and words to search for with search engines, and with CtrlF one has to type in the word correctly in the text and in the search box; so computers are making us better proofreaders. The term mobile phone sets Australia apart from the rest of the English-speaking world, where the word used is cell phone, even in New Zealand. The verb text has come into existence; a man was overheard in a supermarket saying to his child: 'Well, you'd better text Mummy to see what brand she wants'. Social changes have given rise to new words and phrases. For example, with working mothers, we have daycare centres, long-day childcare, after-school childcare, maternity leave, family-friendly workplace and job-sharing. In race relations, we have sorry, sorry day and stolen generation. Economic circumstances have given rise to work for the dole, and refugees are queue-jumpers and asylum seekers, and find themselves in inappropriate detention.
The significant number of American expressions currently used in Australia tells us a lot about the United States' power in this part of the world. The reason American English has such a big effect on Australian English is that the United States has cultural and economic conquering power. It sells its films and TV shows to us (and to the rest of the world); introduces consumerism to countries it trades with, and sells its goods and way of life and language. The term for this phenomenon was coined a long time ago: cultural imperialism. The interesting thing about the situation in Australia is that the invasion of American English isn't being resisted. Many expressions aren't recognised as American by young people (on Smith Street, on the weekend, fries, bathroom). Younger people have heard only the American expressions and don't realise that their culture is being swamped. It's a matter of when the American words were adopted; changes that happened before our time don't normally bother us - even campus and babysitter originated in America. Do younger people think it's more up to date to use Americanisms such as kick ass? Unfortunately these terms are just accepted, even welcomed.
There is still hope - Australian English is holding its own. Even when American words are used in Australian English, they are often used in an Australian way. They may be pronounced with an Australian accent, e.g. bathroom. They may be given an Australian twist, e.g. McDonalds becomes Macca's (in the great Aussie tradition of -a endings for names such as Shazza, Bazza, Wocca, Kezza), whereas in America it's called Mickey D's. Australian English may survive the onslaught of American English, even if it's only by adding an Australian flavour to American cultural artefacts. Australian English is getting its own back overseas: American children are learning to count with an Australian accent because of the Wiggles (which makes up for all the Australian children who pronounce z [zi] from Sesame Street). The high rising tone, which the Americans call uptalk and think that they have invented recently, is now being adopted in America (possibly caught from Steve Irwin) and Britain (caught from Neighbours), even though it has been in use in Australia since the late 1960s.
Pauline went on to talk about how the language of one country conquers that of another. When one country conquers another, the language of the more powerful country conquers the language of the less powerful country. England after 1066 is the best-known example. An example from closer to home is that of East Timor. Language conquest and resistance in East Timor happened for part of its history. When the Portuguese ruled East Timor between the 1500s and 1975, there was no policy to wipe out the local languages. Therefore the rulers spoke Portuguese and the East Timorese spoke their own languages, numbering between fifteen and twenty. If local people needed to deal with the authorities, or if they wanted to get ahead and get a good job, they had to learn Portuguese, which was taught in schools. But the local languages were still used. When Indonesia took over East Timor in 1975, however, there was a policy of banning the local languages and making everyone use Indonesian. If people were heard speaking a local language or Portuguese, it was assumed that they were plotting against the Indonesian regime. The local languages survived in spite of the bans; they were spoken at home and between friends in private. Loyalty to one's language is very strong, which is why languages survive even when they are banned.
A final word of advice from Pauline to editors: the authoritative Australian English dictionaries are the Macquarie and the Australian Oxford. Editors need a dictionary of Australian English (not an English dictionary with Australian words added, like Collins) in their professional libraries, along with dictionaries of British English and American English. Pam Peters' Cambridge guide to English usage gives advice on British and American usage too.
Pauline Bryant and Ara Nalbandian
Words have a habit of changing their meanings in quite surprising ways, or springing from unexpected sources. For example, had you realised that Christian and cretin stem from the same root? They are what linguists call a 'doublet'.
Cretinism is a condition arising from a lack of iodine in the diet, which is more likely to happen in mountainous regions remote from the sea. You can't get much further from the sea than Switzerland, and the common root seems to be an old Swiss dialect word, crestin.
In its early usage, the Latin word Christianum was used for any humans, as distinct from brute beasts. An Irish countryman might say of a clever, obedient dog, 'Sure and Begorrah, he understands the English as well as any Christian'. So calling the cretins 'Christians' was a polite euphemism, and in the same way, idiots used to be referred to as naturals ('natural fools', that is, 'fools by birth', 'by nature').
Begorrah is also a euphemism for 'By God', as are gosh and golly - and no prizes for guessing where Bejabers and Crikey come from. Goodness! And even goodbye, an early contraction for 'God be with you', as in adieu, addio, adios and the like. Note that the Europeans distinguish between 'Go with God' and the less final-sounding au revoir, a rivederci or auf wiedersehen. We seem to have largely lost this distinction, unless it be the ubiquitous see ya, but doesn't it make Bye bye seem fairly pointless!
Another surprising doublet is grammar and glamour (from the Greek gramma, 'word') the latter in its early sense of spell or enchantment. Anyone who has dipped into books on witchcraft will have come across the related French word grimoire, meaning a book of spells. Other doublets are cypher and zero (both from the Arabic çifr, 'zero'), lobster and locust (the Latin for 'lobster' is locusta, and the insect is more or less the same shape). School and leisure aren't a doublet, but are very closely related: the word school comes from the Greek scolh (schole), meaning 'leisure' or 'use of leisure'. So at last you know what school was really intended for!
All of these examples show changes of meaning, and are one aspect of how language evolves. Glamour has clearly undergone a fairly dramatic change, but no more so than silly losing its old meaning of happy (modern German selig still retains it) or clown originally meaning a countryman, or yokel. Another very obvious shift in our own time has been the appropriation of the word gay by homosexuals, which has virtually killed its former meaning - no one now would say, 'We had a really gay time at the club last night', and expect it to pass unnoticed. The drug culture has also made some major appropriations, such as speed, crack, coke and ecstasy, although in these cases the original meaning still stands.
You may say, 'But I don't use these words!' Why should you? You choose your preferred vocabulary, and leave out whatever you don't need or don't like. There is a social aspect here: a person's speech is not only a question of accent but of vocabulary, and words that come naturally to you may not be the ones I'd use to express the same idea. Each of us, even when we aim for absolute objectivity as an editor, is inevitably a prisoner of their education, upbringing and experience, and no two of us are alike in all these respects. Linguists consider this preferred vocabulary to be 'register': the special word-choice appropriate to a given social situation or literary context. In our professional activity, we may think of it as editing with a particular group of readers in mind.
Another major way that language changes is by borrowing from other languages, a process that has been going on as long as records have been kept. From its early years the English language has been enriched by successive invasions: the Romans, the Saxons, the Vikings, the Normans. Every time this happened new words were introduced and the language became richer. The inhabitants of Scythia Minor, over by the Black Sea, were so delighted with their Roman conquerors that they Latinised themselves even to the extent of changing the name of their country. It remains Romania to this day, with its language (formerly Slav) so heavily derived from the Latin that it is the closest thing to Italian on the planet.
In the course of evolution there are some odd hiccups. The Roman garrison in Britain knew all about venomous snakes from their own country. They called them natrix, and their British subjects picked this up as naedre, and somewhere in the Middle Ages a naedre became an adder. Consonants can so easily become switched. The Latin quod ('what'), anticipating Grimm's Law, became first hwaet and then what; the misplaced 'h' in who and which arrived in the same way. And, as I pointed out some time ago when discussing Grimm and his linguistic fairy tales, if you try to aspirate these words the 'h' still defies its present position and jumps out triumphantly before the spoken 'w'.
Peter Judge
Sources: I owe the doublets and the notion of 'register' to Geoffrey Hughes's Words in time: a social history of the English vocabulary. Otherwise the Oxford English Dictionary on CD-ROM and Encyclopaedia Britannica 2005 Ultimate Reference Suite on DVD.
The monthly 'musings with a member' column
This month Louise Forster talks with Jenny Cook about her life in
Canberra and her editing career.
You're a Canberra girl, I believe?
Yes, I'm a fifth-generation Canberran. My great-great-grandfather, James Wright, came here in 1835 and built Lanyon. That amazes a lot of people. First of all they'll say, 'Oh, you don't meet many people who were born in Canberra'. Then when they find out that five generations of us have been here they can't believe it.
I get really upset when people bag Canberra, because I have such a connection to it and such familiarity with it that I can't see anything wrong with it - it's a great place.
I grew up in O'Connor. When my parents moved into their government house in Moorhouse Street, which is the next street up from the O'Connor Shops, their side of the street was the last on that side of Canberra. There was no Lyneham, no Belconnen - it was bush. When we were kids, five of us in the street would ride our pushbikes on dirt tracks up around Black Mountain and over to what is now Belconnen, all of which was bush.
I went to Turner Primary and then to Canberra High - the old Canberra High that's now the School of Arts in the middle of ANU. Canberra High was the building with the white clock tower.
I left school when I was 16 and went to business college. I worked in various jobs and then joined the Public Service. I spent 15 years in 10 departments, working my way up through the records management field until I was in charge of 25 staff.
Then in 1997 I had a car accident and I was off work for three or four months. I did lots of soul-searching and realised I'd spent 15 years doing a job I hated. I knew I couldn't get out of records management if I didn't have some sort of other qualification. So I started looking through university handbooks, at all the English-related subjects. I found journalism. Halfway through the first semester I realised I didn't want to be a journalist, so I talked to my lecturer, Maurice Dunlevy. He was impressed with my writing, my editing and my consistency so he said, 'You could be an editor'. So from then on I focused on being an editor.
At that stage editing was still a minor part of journalism or professional writing courses. I did well in all my journalism units and also law. I went with great trepidation to my first law subject and I received a credit - I was so amazed. I loved law and ended up doing seven law units.
When I finished my degree I wanted to be an editor, but I still had my job in records management. I put out a bulletin, saying, 'This is my qualification, this is what I'm interested in doing'. I was only in that records management job for three months when Purchasing Australia snapped me up as an editor. I worked for them for two years until I was headhunted by AGPS.
I spent a very profitable year at AGPS because that's where I met many of the people I still deal with. After a year at AGPS I moved to the National Food Authority, where I worked for three years. After seven years as an editor in the Public Service I decided to set up my business, PenUltimate.
You work from home, don't you?
Yes. It's fabulous - although patchwork quilting has become a bit of a distraction. My dogs love having me home all the time. I can sit in utter silence and work and concentrate and generally not be interrupted. It can be isolating but I have networks of people with whom I have breakfasts, morning and afternoon teas, lunches and dinners.
Just on your quilting: one of your quilts is included in a calendar to be published in August?
Yes, it's next year's Canberra Quilters' calendar. That's very exciting.
I love sewing. I sewed from when I was a small child on a treadle sewing machine. My sister and I always made our own clothes. We'd rush off to the Monaro Mall after school on Friday, to Ganters to buy fabric. We'd race home and make something to wear to the local dance that night. Sometimes we didn't have time to put zippers in so we'd stitch each other into our dresses. There's a long tradition in my family of sewing and knitting. My dad was a civil engineer and, since his childhood in the Depression, he could also sew, knit, crochet and tat. He could pretty well put his hands to anything he wanted to do. My mum was a knitter, but she couldn't sew at all.
There was a period when I didn't do much sewing - PenUltimate took over my life - but one weekend when I didn't have any editing to do and I was twiddling my thumbs I remembered that I knew some women in a sewing friendship group, so I asked if I could join the group. They were making quilts and I thought it was fantastic. I got right into quilting after that.
What about your membership of the Editors Society? You've been such an excellent member of the Society for so many years.
I was a member of the Society when they were still meeting up at the CSIRO in Campbell. Well, I've been the secretary and I've been the caterer and I'm still on the committee as the assistant training coordinator. I was also heavily involved with Ed•Ex.
My membership of the society is very important to me. I feel that freelancers need to maintain their professional contacts. I really value the professional networking and also the opportunity to maintain personal contacts with people.
Do you have any views on the profession; where you might see it going?
Well, so long as grammar is not being taught in schools, there'll always be jobs for editors. We need to move on accreditation and get some really serious professionalism happening.
Louise Forster and Jenny Cook
The society welcomes Lorraine Lebel as a new full member, and Shirley Byrne, Jennifer Nattrass and Janette Ryan as associate members.
is published by Canberra Society of Editors,
PO Box 3222, Manuka ACT 2603.
© Canberra Society of Editors 2005. ISSN 1039-3358
The next newsletter will appear in in July and the copy deadline for this issue is 1 July..
The editor welcomes contributions using Word for Windows, by email to ara.nalbandian@defence.gov.au
If by snail mail, then send them on a floppy disk or CD-ROM to Canberra Society of Editors, PO Box 3222, Manuka ACT 2603. If mailing, always provide a printout as well.
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