10 Ways You Know You’re an Old Newsletter Editor
You just might be an old newsletter editor if …
- You feel the need to edit your text messages in AP style.
- You still refer to the first paragraph of an article as a “lede.”
- You know the difference between an “en dash” and an “em dash.”
- You know how many points are in a pica.
- You once thought a proportion wheel was a mathematical wonder.
- You know that a pica pole can be used to measure, stir coffee and tear paper.
- You know what a “grip and grin” photo is and you once took a photo of someone with a giant-sized check.
- You knew how to make one of those origami press hats (but you’d never heard the word “origami” at the time).
- You secretly miss smelling blue line proofs.
- You still end your articles with a -30-
Did you once edit the “house organ?” Do any of these bring back memories? If so, feel free to add your own internal communications newsletter nostalgia in the comments section below.
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AP Style AP Stylebook blue line blueline editor em dash employee communications employee newletter employee pub en dash grip and grin hed house organ internal comms Internal Communications internal newsletter lede newsletter newsletter editor nostalgia pica pica pole Print print newsletter print terms printer proportion wheel
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14 Comments
Jim Shaffer
about 6 years agoMore to come
Mike Bennett
about 6 years agoYou're holding onto your old exacto knife just in case you ever need it.
Jim Shaffer
about 6 years agoShould I trade my Royal typewriter for a new Remington? Will my ribbons fit the new typewriter?
Sue Horner
about 6 years agoYou use the term "house organ."
Dean Askin
about 6 years agoYou can talk the printer's lingo...4C, 2C, 4/4, 4/2, and you know PMS also means something other than you-know-what!:)
Paul Barton
about 6 years agoMy favorite was the IBM Selectric with the changeable font ball. It was so modern compared to the Underwood Upright that I learned on. I do miss the sound of a real typewriter.
Pamela Vozza
about 6 years agoI miss the smell of hot wax from paste-up!!
Mary
about 6 years agoYou can count the length of a headline.
Lisa Haufschild
about 6 years agoI loved the Selectric (with that fantastic backspace correcting ball) because until then it was typing erasers that dropped rubber scraps on the "hammer things", correct-o-type, WiteOut....
Mary Ann McCauley
about 6 years agoI still have my pica pole and proportion wheel. They go with the old L.C. Smith that decorates my office. My pica pole hasn't lost its edge for ripping paper.
Kim Handon
about 6 years agoWe still use our exacto knife around the house for projects. In fact we each hide our own favorite versions. They have new life as diy tools.
Ruth E. Thaler-Carter
about 6 years agoI still have a box with my dad's Army manual Olivetti typewriter and an unopened ribbon; a couple sheets of Rubylith; several rolls of rule tape in various widths; a grease pencil; graphic paper; a waxer; a couple of Xacto knives; a book of clip art; a repro-blue pencil; and a pack of Letraset lettering. I'm ready for the apocalypse - I can still produce newsletters if the Internet/computer world ever goes down!
Jill Feldon
about 6 years agoYou put double spaces after each sentence.
Paul Barton
about 6 years agoFor those of you who were wondering, I took the photo used in this post and those items are actually my personal pica pole, my old AP Stylebook and one of the print pieces I produced in the early 1990s for a utility company. I should also have included the lead pig from my father's weekly newspaper that was once used to make hot type but is now used as a paperweight on my desk. My earliest childhood memories are of falling to sleep while listening to the deafening rhythmic white noise of a printing press. Best sleep I ever had! So yes, print is in my blood and I come by my nostalgia honestly. Meanwhile, for a more serious look at print, check out this David Murray blog. You might also enjoy this blog I wrote a few years ago entitled: 5 Reasons to Consider Print for Internal Communications.