Comments

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  Eric Theriault March 31, 2011 at 9:02pm

  Allan, you can download Firefox at http://getfirefox.com
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  Allan Lynch March 31, 2011 at 9:00pm

  Hi,

   

  Luddite here - which means I'm a life-long Mac owner. Where does one find firefox?
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  Ed Wetschler March 31, 2011 at 8:33pm

  Boy, are you ever right, Buzzy. I always recommend that people download Firefox as a (free) browser, if only to get the add-on called Screengrabber. That way you can save all your online clips as jpgs. 

  FYI, I've tried doing this with other add-ons and with Safari as my browser, but I've not been as satisfied with any other way to do this. Please chime in if you've had better luck than me with non-Screengrabber screengrabbers.
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  Buzzy Gordon March 31, 2011 at 8:27pm

  WARNING: Your online clips are not safe and can irretrievably disappear!
  

   

  I just discovered that a number of my bylined clips have been lost forever, due either to a publication going out of business (Executive Traveler), or worse -- a particularly vindictive act on the part of Questex. In 2008, I wrote a number of articles for Travel Agent Magazine and Luxury Travel Advisor; when I recently went to search for them in the magazines’ archives, my name never turned up in the results.

  I subsequently performed individual searches for the articles, and those did turn up (actually, one still has not) – but my byline had been systematically eliminated, one by one: the pieces were/are now attributed to an anonymous contributor.

  Fortunately, in a few instances, the articles had been republished on other websites before the nefarious minds at Questex got around to sanitizing my byline.

  My advice to everyone is to store the online version (as soon is it appears) in a protected virtual environment, to ensure its continued integrity. If applicable, secure a hard copy, scan it and lock it away on a personal hard drive.

   
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  Phil Tarley March 31, 2011 at 12:39am

  "Don't phone it in, "  is what they used to say. Today we can Google then e-mail it in. Sometimes there is no other  way to get the story. We all do it. But there is nothing like really getting the story than by actually getting to the destination. Packing a bag and logging the miles makes reportage authentic and rich in detail. Just my humble opine.
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  David Paul Appell March 30, 2011 at 9:19pm

  This may be appetizing to some of you: now on our blog, How NOT to run a travel media lunch.
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  Northeast News March 29, 2011 at 12:10am

  Hal, you've created a great fantasy about my terrier. She's a smart dog, she's trained me well, and I believe that if she could speak English, she would put us all to shame. Epically!

  Ed, you asked the right question: Are any of you using terms like IMHO in your travel stories? 
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  Hal Peat March 28, 2011 at 5:19am

  @Northeast News - "I believe you've put your finger on the root cause of this restricted language: Stupidity is fashionable."

  Yes, I think it comes down to that type of willful ignorance.  I noticed you have a very nice highland terrier (is that the breed, the one on the Dewar's label?) on your avatar.  Now, that leads me to reason, since this is a very intelligent breed also, and since I've read some owners swearing that their dogs could talk to them, one even claiming that his can bark "I want out!" - well, wouldn't that be great if you could also teach your own to be fashionable and bark: "I want totally...out!" or "I so need to go walkies!" or "I need to go ca-ca...epically!"  All of which would be more useful than listening to an editor trying to be fashionable, or being trapped at a dining table on a press trip while someone barks about their marriage woes.  Epically. 
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  Sally Hammond March 28, 2011 at 5:15am

  I have been reading these posts with interest, as I love our language in all its forms and 'deforms'. While I enjoy using the most fitting word in my writing, I do think that we have to remember that language is primarily for communication (which springs from the root word for 'common') and our language can, and often should, change depending on our audience. I love using the 'bigger' more accurate words if I feel the person I am speaking to or writing for will comprehend them, but when talking to younger or less educated people I choose words that I hope they will understand. Yes, I abhor the insertion of 'like', 'y'know', 'I mean' within speech, but it is all part of the dynamic way language changes. Someone from the Middle Ages would not be able to understand what we were talking about!
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  Hal Peat March 28, 2011 at 5:08am

  @Ed Wetschler - you can certainly turn me into the SATW disciplinary committee the second you read me incorporating "totally" or any other hot modifier into my writing - I'd deserve it:)
  
  As to the New York accent, I listen to it just with great affection nowadays.:) There's nothing special or real about being genericized. For me, accents evoke time, place, specificity, and especially memories.