The World Beyond BetterMost > The Culture Tent
In the New Yorker...
Front-Ranger:
Well, they do vary it. Later on in the article these appear:
Cathleen Sutherland, the film's production manager, looked around wistfully. "I used to go to summer camp--same girls for years," she said.
One of the film's admirers was Tina Harrison. She had grown up in the Bay Area and moved to Austin for graduate school in art history, but "found Austin rather dreary after San Francisco and Berkeley."
"It used to be just Linklater, Malick, and Rodriguez," Rebecca Campbell, the film society's executive director, says.
Hawke: "He wasn't just looking for two actors, in a way--he was looking for two partners."
Lorelei bounced down the stairs in a velvet cocktail dress. "This is one option," she said.
There are more examples if you need them. But the two examples you cited of Hawke and Tarantino follow each other so they seem rather prominent.
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: Front-Ranger on July 02, 2014, 05:19:17 pm ---Well, they do vary it. Later on in the article these appear:
Cathleen Sutherland, the film's production manager, looked around wistfully. "I used to go to summer camp--same girls for years," she said.
One of the film's admirers was Tina Harrison. She had grown up in the Bay Area and moved to Austin for graduate school in art history, but "found Austin rather dreary after San Francisco and Berkeley."
"It used to be just Linklater, Malick, and Rodriguez," Rebecca Campbell, the film society's executive director, says.
Hawke: "He wasn't just looking for two actors, in a way--he was looking for two partners."
Lorelei bounced down the stairs in a velvet cocktail dress. "This is one option," she said.
There are more examples if you need them. But the two examples you cited of Hawke and Tarantino follow each other so they seem rather prominent.
--- End quote ---
I've seen this structure used so often in so many articles, not just the Linklater profile (which is otherwise very interesting) that I'm stickin' to my story. And that Rebecca Campbell sentence follows the pattern--it ends with the says all by itself after the modifying clause.
I don't care if it is The New Yorker. It's bad writing. I don't know who does the magazine's actual copy editing, but I'm beginning to suspect that whoever it is can't edit himself or herself out of a paper bag.
serious crayons:
I've noticed this for years. I've assumed they have a rule that the verb "said" always has to follow the subject, whereas in most writing, you would go
"... says Quentin Tarrantino, who calls 'Dazed and Confused' his favorite film of the nineteen-nineties."
"... says Ethan Hawke, who has appeared in eight of Linklater's films."
"... says Jack Black, who starred in it, says."
It's not just some rogue copy editor; I'm fairly certain this is the magazine's preferred style, like the diaeresis over words like cooperate. It's still stupid, though. I think those attributions read very awkwardly, and what's the point of hanging onto a rule that makes your writing awkward?
Here's a piece about the diaeresis, by the way, that shows how stodgy the NYer can be about style:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/04/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis.html
Jeff Wrangler:
--- Quote from: serious crayons on July 02, 2014, 08:48:53 pm ---I've noticed this for years. I've assumed they have a rule that the verb "said" always has to follow the subject, whereas in most writing, you would go
"... says Quentin Tarrantino, who calls 'Dazed and Confused' his favorite film of the nineteen-nineties."
"... says Ethan Hawke, who has appeared in eight of Linklater's films."
"... says Jack Black, who starred in it, says."
--- End quote ---
Or else you start with the attribution and end with the direct quotation:
Quentin Tarrantino, who calls "Dazed and Confused" his favorite film of the nineteen-nineties, says, "With his first four or five films, you may have thought you had Rick pegged, and you would have been wrong."
--- Quote ---It's not just some rogue copy editor; I'm fairly certain this is the magazine's preferred style.
--- End quote ---
"Actually, I agree," Jeff Wrangler, who reads the magazine faithfully, said. ;D
--- Quote ---It's still stupid, though. I think those attributions read very awkwardly, and what's the point of hanging onto a rule that makes your writing awkward?
--- End quote ---
I agree; it's stupid and awkward.
--- Quote ---Here's a piece about the diaeresis, by the way, that shows how stodgy the NYer can be about style:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2012/04/the-curse-of-the-diaeresis.html
--- End quote ---
I find the diaeresis amusingly quaint, but the magazine also violates everything I was ever taught about the use of italics in titles.
Front-Ranger:
A New Yorker convention that is maddening sometimes is their rule about writing out numbers, even big numbers like two thousand nine hundred and fifty two. It makes reading (or writing) an article about economics nearly impossible!
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version