Oh, student editors

[rivkat]

I understand I'm alone in my conviction that contractions are perfectly appropriate in law review articles. But, just once, couldn't we make an exception?

Here is the "correction" at issue: "Just as you do not need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, you do not need a scholar to know that multiple interpretations of a text exist."

Reassure me, LJ. I should fight for my right to Dylan homage, shouldn't I?

Comments

[harriet-spy.livejournal.com]

The line of reasoning I would usually offer here might be faintly professionally offensive to you, so I'll skip it and say that on aesthetic grounds alone, you must fight the power.

(Also, you may not need a scholar, but that point seems to have eluded several sitting members of our present Court, hasn't it?)

[giandujakiss.livejournal.com]

You should try "Any way the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me." They'll get that one.

[coffeeandink.livejournal.com]

Fight!

[cathexys.livejournal.com]

I've really changed my mind on that one lately andam all over the contractions! (and only one space after the period :)

You should totally fight!!!

[resonant8.livejournal.com]

Isn't it "You don't have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows"?

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I thought that too, but all the lyrics I found are "you don't need a weatherman."

[cesperanza.livejournal.com]

OMG! YOUR FIELD DRIVES ME INSANE!!

[chase820.livejournal.com]

Not using the contractions completely ruins the meter of that sentence. Fight for your right to quote Bob correctly.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I really believe that writing fiction made me a better nonfiction writer, and it's because I'm much more sensitive to how a sentence feels now. Law review editors tend to like my writing at the acceptance stage, when it stands out from other submissions, and then progressively strive to reduce it to sounding like every other law review article out there. Understandable, yet also crazy-making.

Actually, these guys have been very good, with this single exception.

[zeldadestry.livejournal.com]

Huh. I'm kind of fascinated by that phenomenon, people selecting something because it is original and then wanting to milquetoast it. I don't get it. Maybe when they select it they're going with their gut, but then at some point the concern with the supposed 'market' becomes primary and they just want to standardize it so it fits in with everything else? It seems I read artists complaining about that a lot, so it's interesting to me that it also exists in the law review sphere.

In any case, don't mess with Bob, I say. ;)

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

Fight, baby.

That sentence makes me twitch. Can you re-write it so that the quote is in quotations? (Just as you "don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows" (Dylan, 19??), you don't need a scholar to know that multiple interpretations of the text exist.) (Note: I am not responsible for the punctuation weirdness in that sentence. The APA is. Blame THEM. Normally I'm fine with the style, but the way midsentence quotations are punctuated bothers me. *more twitching*)

Editors can't fuck with quotations. You'd probably still lose the second contraction, but then at least your readers would know that you know how the quote is supposed to go. Plus, hey, you'd get to put Dylan in your references.

[kaseido.livejournal.com]

I like this solution! Increases the accuracy, cues the attentive reader into editorial wankery - elegant!

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

The problem is, I think that putting quotations/citations into the middle of the sentence just swaps one form of ugliness for another. Just let me have my gosh-darned reference! (It's actually Bluebook, not APA, but the Bluebook can be worse because it's written for lawyers, by lawyers-to-be.)

[corinna-5.livejournal.com]

Having spent a summer doing Bluebook reference-checking when I was 23, I implore you, do not regret putting in an interesting reference. Think of the children.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I initially read that as "think of the chicken." Which would be an awesome addition to any article!

[corinna-5.livejournal.com]

Bawk!

[popfantastic.livejournal.com]

Fight, fight, fight. Are they actively resisting, or did they just not know the reference? If there are any circumstances in which a contraction should absolutely come in, I would think that'd be it.

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I don't know if they got the reference. Which is really funny, since the article is in part about cases in which people understand that you're not an original creator even when you don't give credit (like Superman fanfic without a disclaimer).

[irishabastard.livejournal.com]

Well, I am a student editor, in fact, the lead editor, for a law journal that focuses on international law and German Law court decisions, and I wouldn't change the original. The change they made makes the phrase MORE awkward and difficult to read. Just click the "reject changes" button and send it back.

[zvi-likes-tv.livejournal.com]

Can you footnote it at the end of the sentence, instead of quoting mid-sentence? That would be my preferred solution. But, in any case, You gotta fight…for your right…to paaaaaaaaaaaaaar-tay!

[rivkat.livejournal.com]

I don't really want quote marks or a citation at all (it's already in a footnote, so by the rules laid down I'd have to cite Dylan right in the middle) but I suppose I'd acquiesce to one at the end of the sentence.