Opens profile photo
Follow
Click to Follow CopyCurmudgeon
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
AP style by day, AP flour by night. she/her
BostonishJoined February 2010
499 Following
4,029 Followers

Colleen Barry’s Tweets

Pinned Tweet
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
What people think goes on in a copy editor’s brain all day: “I love the Oxford comma and hate splitting infinitives!” What is actually happening in my brain all day: *endlessly overthinking prepositions*
8
74
Show this thread
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
This feels Correct
Quote Tweet
The Boston Globe
@BostonGlobe
A vacant Friendly’s restaurant in North Providence will be used to film “Good Burger 2,” the sequel to the 1997 movie based on the Nickelodeon series “All That,” the Rhode Island Film & TV Office announced Tuesday. trib.al/rElnRYA
2
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
A bunch of tweets are now geotagged “from Earth,” like maybe that guy thinks he can trick people into believing the Mars colony has already happened?
Image
1
4
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
Co-sign this! Vanessa cheerfully and impeccably handled all the thankless, essential admin stuff. And at a corporation as big as Disney, there’s a LOT of admin stuff. Some other company has a chance to make an incredible hire.
Quote Tweet
Ben Casselman
@bencasselman
I hate every one of these layoffs today, but this is the one that made me laugh out loud because it's so STUPID. Vanessa is hands down the best admin/office manager/operations person I've ever worked with. Disney's loss is some other organization's gain. twitter.com/_Vanessa_Diaz/…
1
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
FiveThirtyEight has its flaws, but I learned a lot there and worked with some super smart, interesting, fun people. It really hurts to watch this litany of layoffs. Other publications should snap all these folks up.
20
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
Hire Neil if you like smart writers who can generate a ton of copy and are delightful to work with.
Quote Tweet
Neil Paine
@Neil_Paine
Well, I'm finally doing one of these. I just got word that my time with @FiveThirtyEight is at an end. It was a joy to be able to write about analytics and sports for nearly a decade, and I want to thank you all for reading over the years.
Show this thread
2
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
If you published work on BuzzFeed News that you’d like to be able to share again later, please run the URL through the Wayback Machine and download the page as a PDF. Stuff starts disappearing from the web when sites shut down.
Quote Tweet
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
This is a good idea, so I had the Wayback Machine capture the page so we can all still access it. web.archive.org/web/2023042018
2
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
Both cats absolutely had to be leaning on my right leg at the same time and this is the compromise they reached.
An orange-and-white cat stands with her front paws on a blanket-covered human leg, looking at the camera like, “What?” Her butt is resting squarely on a gray-and-black tabby, who is unconcernedly grooming his paw.
2
11
Colleen Barry Retweeted
James M. Fraleigh
@JamesMFraleigh
Proofreaders and copy editors: If your copy includes currency amounts, do a search for that currency, spelled out. I get more than enough hits on things like “$2 trillion dollars” to outweigh the times I come up snake eyes. (Even one positive justifies it!)
2
20
Colleen Barry Retweeted
Louisa 🌈👭
@LouisatheLast
One more reminder for Easter weekend: if you have cats, do not bring lilies into your home. They are very poisonous specifically to cats, and that poisoning can happen just from some pollen getting on them and being licked up in grooming. Don’t risk it!
22
2,073
Show this thread
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
You may think you’re having a good Saturday, but is it as good as being a cat asleep in a heated bed while using a catnip rainbow for a pillow?
Overhead view of an orange-and-white cat asleep in a circular bed. A striped fabric toy peeks out from under her head and one paw is curled against the edge of the toy.
Slightly closer and more side-on view of the same sleepy cat, where you can better see her cheek resting on the toy and her paw pressed tightly against it.
13
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
I know every copy editor has a weird search history, but I expected a call from HR at minute while googling things for this piece.
Quote Tweet
ProPublica
@propublica
By allowing anyone to report an Instagram account for violating the company’s standards, Meta gives enormous leverage to people who are able to trick it into banning someone who relies on Instagram for income. propub.li/3FSuzTa
5
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
Pay starts at $68,900.
Quote Tweet
Vince Tuss
@vtuss
Two jobs at @startribune for multiplatform (a k a copy) editors: One editor will work across multiple content areas, with a focus editing in sports, while the other will work in news, features, business and sports. For the Friday night crowd. recruiting2.ultipro.com/STA1013/JobBoa
3
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
I hate the “size” part of this. Feels like it will be either weird — “police say his Size 10 shoe matched the footprint” — or othering — “she tried several stores, but none carried prom dresses in Size 18.”
Quote Tweet
Dave Nelsen
@The_GrammarGeek
AP style update: Capitalize the first letter in a single sequential designation: Act 3, Phase 1, Room 6, Size 12, Type 2. #ACESEvolve
5
21
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
The Ashmont-Savin Hill section of the Red Line is the spur that serves Dorchester, where many of Boston’s Black residents live. If there’s a problem there that merits speed restrictions on every line, I wonder not just how bad it is there but also how long it’s been this bad.
1
Show this thread
Colleen Barry
@CopyCurmudgeon
The perils of leaving your tail hanging straight out behind you.
A gray-and-black tabby with his front half draped over a human leg and his tail sticking straight out behind him where, in the background, an orange-and-white cat is dozing with her head and back paw resting on it.
A closer shot of just the gray-and-black butt and tail with the orange-and-white cat sleeping on a point about halfway down the tail.
An even closer shot of just a snoozy orange-and-white cat with her eyes covered by her back leg and her face and foot on the gray-and-black tail. Her head fur is is crimpy and it catches the light where it stands up a bit.
10