Stan Carey
@stancarey.bsky.social
Editor, writer, lapsed biologist in the west of Ireland
Copy-editing, writing: https://stancarey.com
Language: https://stancarey.wordpress.com
Strong language: https://stronglang.wordpress.com
🎞 https://letterboxd.com/stancarey
🦣 @stancarey@mastodon.ie
Copy-editing, writing: https://stancarey.com
Language: https://stancarey.wordpress.com
Strong language: https://stronglang.wordpress.com
🎞 https://letterboxd.com/stancarey
🦣 @stancarey@mastodon.ie
Pinned
Stan Carey
@stancarey.bsky.social
· Nov 10
Stan Carey editing and proofreading | Tidy, tighten, or transform your text
stancarey.com
I should introduce myself, now that the world is ending. I'm a freelance copy-editor/proofreader from Ireland. And I write, mostly about language: stancarey.com
stancarey.wordpress.com
I hike a bit and always have a book on the go and a film in mind. Background in biology; environmentalist at heart
stancarey.wordpress.com
I hike a bit and always have a book on the go and a film in mind. Background in biology; environmentalist at heart
Reposted by Stan Carey
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.
This is who it was:
This is who it was:
November 21, 2025 at 12:59 AM
Earlier today, I was notified that someone was at my door.
This is who it was:
This is who it was:
Reposted by Stan Carey
So, without much ado, we've kind of lost the first major city to climate change. (Tehran, metropolitan area 15 million people.)
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian: “When we proposed relocating the capital, we lacked the budget…
“People said it was impossible, but now it’s no longer optional.
“We can’t keep adding population and construction here. Expansion is possible, but the water problem cannot be solved.”
“People said it was impossible, but now it’s no longer optional.
“We can’t keep adding population and construction here. Expansion is possible, but the water problem cannot be solved.”
November 21, 2025 at 9:40 AM
So, without much ado, we've kind of lost the first major city to climate change. (Tehran, metropolitan area 15 million people.)
Reposted by Stan Carey
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:16 PM
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
If you see this, post your getaway vehicle
November 21, 2025 at 12:15 PM
If you see this, post your getaway vehicle
Reposted by Stan Carey
Great article. It is going to get ugly.
"The AI industry’s most important product at this moment is not a chatbot or a video generator; it’s the story the AI industry is telling about itself"
www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t... #AI
www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t... #AI
How Catastrophic Is It If the AI Bubble Bursts? An FAQ.
The AI industry's most important product is not a chatbot or a video generator; it's the story the AI industry is telling about itself
www.theringer.com
November 13, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Great article. It is going to get ugly.
The word SNEEZE used to be FNESE, as in "He speketh in his nose And fneseth faste" (Canterbury Tales)
FNESE faded out in the 15thC, superseded by NESE/NEEZE. Then an s- was added, maybe to strengthen it or to align with other nose-related sn- words
Anyway I think we should bring FNESE back
FNESE faded out in the 15thC, superseded by NESE/NEEZE. Then an s- was added, maybe to strengthen it or to align with other nose-related sn- words
Anyway I think we should bring FNESE back
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 10:33 AM
The word SNEEZE used to be FNESE, as in "He speketh in his nose And fneseth faste" (Canterbury Tales)
FNESE faded out in the 15thC, superseded by NESE/NEEZE. Then an s- was added, maybe to strengthen it or to align with other nose-related sn- words
Anyway I think we should bring FNESE back
FNESE faded out in the 15thC, superseded by NESE/NEEZE. Then an s- was added, maybe to strengthen it or to align with other nose-related sn- words
Anyway I think we should bring FNESE back
Reposted by Stan Carey
type for books used to be set using little metal letters built into words in racks and then inked and pressed on to paper. If you had stock phrases you wanted to reuse a lot you could make a cast of them called a ‘stereotype’. The sound of them *clicking* into place, in French, is ‘cliché’
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 10:17 AM
type for books used to be set using little metal letters built into words in racks and then inked and pressed on to paper. If you had stock phrases you wanted to reuse a lot you could make a cast of them called a ‘stereotype’. The sound of them *clicking* into place, in French, is ‘cliché’
Added a new example of fucking ambiguity to my @stronglang.bsky.social post
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...
Fucking ambiguity
In a post last month on the versatility of fuck, Rob Chirico wrote that the word has ‘escaped and run from the confines of its sexual root’. That is, most current uses of fuck are independent of se…
stronglang.wordpress.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:43 PM
Added a new example of fucking ambiguity to my @stronglang.bsky.social post
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...
stronglang.wordpress.com/2015/05/13/f...
Reposted by Stan Carey
Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron has launched a free digital archival library of literature by Black and brown authors, poets, and artists. Readers can borrow rare and out-of-print books for up to 45 days
Solange Opens Free Digital Library Of Rare Black Books
Solange has launched a digital library archive of Black and brown authors where readers can borrow books at no cost.
peopleofcolorintech.com
November 18, 2025 at 11:58 PM
Solange Knowles’ Saint Heron has launched a free digital archival library of literature by Black and brown authors, poets, and artists. Readers can borrow rare and out-of-print books for up to 45 days
Reposted by Stan Carey
So he's all "such a nefarious neologism as the quotative 'like'", and Stan's there "actually it's not nefarious or even a neologism"
"…caught out using such a nefarious neologism as the quotative 'like'"
1. It's not a neologism: it's a half-century old.
2. Calling a useful linguistic innovation "nefarious" says nothing about the word in question but quite a lot about the letter-writer. The only embarrassment is his ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1. It's not a neologism: it's a half-century old.
2. Calling a useful linguistic innovation "nefarious" says nothing about the word in question but quite a lot about the letter-writer. The only embarrassment is his ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A reminder that there are still a lot of people on this planet who could probably better use the large amount of time they have on their hands.
November 20, 2025 at 2:34 PM
So he's all "such a nefarious neologism as the quotative 'like'", and Stan's there "actually it's not nefarious or even a neologism"
Reposted by Stan Carey
"I'm like" for "I said" is a distinguishing stylistic feature of Jay McInerney's 1988 novel Story of My Life - in fact the first line is "I'm like, I don't believe this shit". So presumably then it was well enough established for people to get it, but also distinctive enough to make it interesting.
November 20, 2025 at 1:54 PM
"I'm like" for "I said" is a distinguishing stylistic feature of Jay McInerney's 1988 novel Story of My Life - in fact the first line is "I'm like, I don't believe this shit". So presumably then it was well enough established for people to get it, but also distinctive enough to make it interesting.
"…caught out using such a nefarious neologism as the quotative 'like'"
1. It's not a neologism: it's a half-century old.
2. Calling a useful linguistic innovation "nefarious" says nothing about the word in question but quite a lot about the letter-writer. The only embarrassment is his ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1. It's not a neologism: it's a half-century old.
2. Calling a useful linguistic innovation "nefarious" says nothing about the word in question but quite a lot about the letter-writer. The only embarrassment is his ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
A reminder that there are still a lot of people on this planet who could probably better use the large amount of time they have on their hands.
November 20, 2025 at 1:38 PM
"…caught out using such a nefarious neologism as the quotative 'like'"
1. It's not a neologism: it's a half-century old.
2. Calling a useful linguistic innovation "nefarious" says nothing about the word in question but quite a lot about the letter-writer. The only embarrassment is his ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
1. It's not a neologism: it's a half-century old.
2. Calling a useful linguistic innovation "nefarious" says nothing about the word in question but quite a lot about the letter-writer. The only embarrassment is his ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Reposted by Stan Carey
i just remembered last night i dreamed about decimal letters in between the alphabet that could be used to describe the world in more detail
October 20, 2025 at 2:29 PM
i just remembered last night i dreamed about decimal letters in between the alphabet that could be used to describe the world in more detail
Reposted by Stan Carey
two women on the bus r having a convo on a translator app from arabic to ukrainian:') seems like they know each other from being on the same bus often
November 13, 2025 at 1:47 PM
two women on the bus r having a convo on a translator app from arabic to ukrainian:') seems like they know each other from being on the same bus often
I understand the motivation for this apostrophe, but I do not share it.
(from "A Crack in Everything" by Marcus Chown, a fine new book about black holes)
(from "A Crack in Everything" by Marcus Chown, a fine new book about black holes)
!["For a short while, he sat in the tranquillity of his office, poured himself a schnapps from the drinks' cabinet, and looked out across the manicured gardens of the observatory." [There's an apostrophe at the end of the word "drinks" in the phrase "drinks cabinet".]](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:5umbpor2jx3i4a7g5gureesq/bafkreiamloa4brldvbkoxvqc7f7kbua3fxcaxsbd5hnujrw2d4xiovkvoi@jpeg)
November 19, 2025 at 6:38 PM
I understand the motivation for this apostrophe, but I do not share it.
(from "A Crack in Everything" by Marcus Chown, a fine new book about black holes)
(from "A Crack in Everything" by Marcus Chown, a fine new book about black holes)
Reposted by Stan Carey
like all of this, as an explainer. but also the last paragraph
"The AI industry’s most important product at this moment is not a chatbot or a video generator; it’s the story the AI industry is telling about itself"
www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t... #AI
www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t... #AI
How Catastrophic Is It If the AI Bubble Bursts? An FAQ.
The AI industry's most important product is not a chatbot or a video generator; it's the story the AI industry is telling about itself
www.theringer.com
November 13, 2025 at 1:11 PM
like all of this, as an explainer. but also the last paragraph
Reposted by Stan Carey
Reposting with alt text
November 18, 2025 at 9:34 AM
Reposting with alt text
This article on designing services to be digital by default focuses rightly on older people, but it has implications for us all www.thejournal.ie/readme/opini... #accessibility
Opinion: We’ve grown far too comfortable excluding older people from the digital world
As more of our lives move online by default, digital ageism has quietly become one of the last unchallenged prejudices, writes Fiona Daly.
www.thejournal.ie
November 13, 2025 at 8:38 AM
This article on designing services to be digital by default focuses rightly on older people, but it has implications for us all www.thejournal.ie/readme/opini... #accessibility
Reposted by Stan Carey
A republic is not a monarchy. The difference between a presidential chair that embraces, & a throne that excludes.
Ireland's presidential inauguration chair was made from native oak, symbolic of strength and endurance
Here's some background from a beautiful book that I copy-edited in 2018 artisanhouse.ie/product/see-... #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm
Here's some background from a beautiful book that I copy-edited in 2018 artisanhouse.ie/product/see-... #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm
November 11, 2025 at 8:52 PM
A republic is not a monarchy. The difference between a presidential chair that embraces, & a throne that excludes.
"The AI industry’s most important product at this moment is not a chatbot or a video generator; it’s the story the AI industry is telling about itself"
www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t... #AI
www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t... #AI
How Catastrophic Is It If the AI Bubble Bursts? An FAQ.
The AI industry's most important product is not a chatbot or a video generator; it's the story the AI industry is telling about itself
www.theringer.com
November 13, 2025 at 8:08 AM
"The AI industry’s most important product at this moment is not a chatbot or a video generator; it’s the story the AI industry is telling about itself"
www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t... #AI
www.theringer.com/2025/11/04/t... #AI
Reposted by Stan Carey
It’s an impressive piece of work, “Presidential not regal” was the spec, and it is.
Ireland's presidential inauguration chair was made from native oak, symbolic of strength and endurance
Here's some background from a beautiful book that I copy-edited in 2018 artisanhouse.ie/product/see-... #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm
Here's some background from a beautiful book that I copy-edited in 2018 artisanhouse.ie/product/see-... #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm
November 11, 2025 at 8:36 PM
It’s an impressive piece of work, “Presidential not regal” was the spec, and it is.
Ireland's presidential inauguration chair was made from native oak, symbolic of strength and endurance
Here's some background from a beautiful book that I copy-edited in 2018 artisanhouse.ie/product/see-... #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm
Here's some background from a beautiful book that I copy-edited in 2018 artisanhouse.ie/product/see-... #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm
November 11, 2025 at 6:31 PM
Ireland's presidential inauguration chair was made from native oak, symbolic of strength and endurance
Here's some background from a beautiful book that I copy-edited in 2018 artisanhouse.ie/product/see-... #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm
Here's some background from a beautiful book that I copy-edited in 2018 artisanhouse.ie/product/see-... #SpéirGhorm #SpéirGorm
Reposted by Stan Carey
We have had 14yrs without a toxic commentary on how our President dresses. I remember the slagging and commentary on Mary R. It would be great to think our media/society has evolved and that President Catherine Connolly will not be subject to that scrutiny.
November 11, 2025 at 11:08 AM
We have had 14yrs without a toxic commentary on how our President dresses. I remember the slagging and commentary on Mary R. It would be great to think our media/society has evolved and that President Catherine Connolly will not be subject to that scrutiny.
Reposted by Stan Carey
FTA: @stancarey.bsky.social minds the bollocks stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/n...
Never mind the bollocking, here’s the slang data
An unlikely swearword hit the headlines twice in recent days, thanks to its use on mainstream television from two prominent figures. In the first clip below, celebrity journalist Piers Morgan uses …
stronglang.wordpress.com
November 7, 2025 at 5:00 PM
FTA: @stancarey.bsky.social minds the bollocks stronglang.wordpress.com/2016/01/06/n...
Reposted by Stan Carey
Copyediting FAQ
Q. Should the word “too” at the end of a sentence be preceded by a comma, or no?
A. Whichever way you choose to go, the other way will immediately seem better.
Q. Should the word “too” at the end of a sentence be preceded by a comma, or no?
A. Whichever way you choose to go, the other way will immediately seem better.
November 10, 2025 at 3:29 AM
Copyediting FAQ
Q. Should the word “too” at the end of a sentence be preceded by a comma, or no?
A. Whichever way you choose to go, the other way will immediately seem better.
Q. Should the word “too” at the end of a sentence be preceded by a comma, or no?
A. Whichever way you choose to go, the other way will immediately seem better.