Raw, but c*nsored blabbing and blogging of a young journalista
and local news producer in Southern New England.
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Sunday, November 07, 2004

Writes, Reads and Leaves

I'm reading Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots and Leaves right now, which is highly recommended if you have a sense of humor about punctuation. I wish I could afford to buy everyone in the newsroom a copy.

And then force them to read it.

And then test them on it.

But I've just now been distressed by what she said about the ellipsis. I guess I've been using it in scripts incorrectly, more for the newsreader than the visual reader. I will write, for example:

BLUE CROSS AND BLUE SHIELD OF RHODE ISLAND HAS NOT MADE ANY ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THEIR NEXT PLANS...
UNITED HEALTHCARE TAKES OVER THE STATE CONTRACT STARTING JANUARY FIRST.

because there is an air of mystery to be had in the BCBSRI sentence. BCBSRI were (if you consider THEM a GROUP as the British do) (and in fact, if you don't, THEIR in that sentence should probably be ITS; fine, whatever) very anxious to keep the huge contract to supply Rhode Island's state workers and former state workers their health insurance, and now that they've (it has) lost the battle (assuming of course that Judge Procaccini, or whomever it was, decided in United's favor on Friday, since people I talked to speculated that BCBSRI didn't have a crutch to stand on let alone a leg; and because I can't remember what was decided), people might be wondering what the hell it's (they're) going to do next.

Whew!

So you see I was kind of trailing that concept off in a theatrical, "intriguing manner," as Lynne Truss says. It also kind of leads the newsreader or anchor into the next sentence. Other people in the newsroom have an affinity for the dash or hyphen in the same way:

JUDGE CAPRIO HAS NOT PAID THE FINE YET -
HIS LAWYER SAYS THEY WILL APPEAL.

That's all right I suppose -- would be even better if the hyphen at the end of Caprio's sentence was two hyphens, like this -- but some scripts I've seen have peppered them throughout as though that is the only punctuation mark available:

A CAR CRASH IN PROVIDENCE -
THIS WAS ABOUT 2:15 EARLY THIS MORNING, WHEN THE GREEN VOLKSWAGEN JETTA YOU SEE HERE HIT A TELEPHONE POLE -
POLICE SAY THE DRIVER FELL ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL - BUT THE DRIVER TELLS TopStoryLive NEWS HE HAD AN OPEN CONTAINER OF JACK DANIELS IN THE CAR.
POLICE DISPUTE THE STORY -
THEY SAY THE DRIVER IS SIMPLY LOOKING FOR TROUBLE-

That just gets annoying. Lynne Truss says some people are using the hyphen too much (especially in text messaging) because it's easier to see, but on the computer or a prompter screen it doesn't make a difference to me. It just sounds like it would be confusing for the reader. Granted, some periods, some commas, fall off the face of the earth, especially on a prompter, but that is the anchor's fault for not pre-reading. Right?

I have a feeling I should send this entry to Lynne Truss and have her rip it apart. What do you think? 8^D

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 11/07/2004 02:16:00 AM ... Email this entry ...
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