Rules Are Not Shoes: Finding the Fit

Photo: Saire Elizabeth

Over at the Q&A, we get a lot of questions from writers and editors who have searched through the style manual and can’t find exactly the same phrase/citation/rule that they’re agonizing over. They’ve found the section that treats ABC and the section that treats DEF, but where’s the section that treats CDE? “My teacher/boss/publisher is insisting I use Chicago style, but your examples don’t cover this case!”

I’ve written before that if you’re knocking yourself out trying unsuccessfully to find a rule, it might be because there isn’t one. But what about when you almost find it?

No style guide can be exhaustive. Sometimes a writer or editor has to use judgment. Look at ABC and DEF, and use the deductive reasoning you learned in algebra to adapt them for CDE. Remember why you keep a style sheet: to record decisions that aren’t covered by the book or that depart from its recommendations. Rules are not shoes: sometimes you can make a rule fit.

And consider this: if it isn’t covered in the manual, who’s to say it’s wrong?

Comments

[John Cowan]

I believe this arises because people believe that there is one and only one correct way to say things, and likewise that this one way is written down someplace, and if not in The Style Book, then where?

[Nobody]

love your post, but you'll want to fix this quick:

"that depart from it’s recommendations."

yours in copyediting...

[Valerie (Kyriosity)]

The CMOS forum (http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/forum.html) is a terrific resource for brainstorming how to handle those fallen-between-the-cracks issues. You need to be a subscriber to CMOS online, but it is, as the kids say, so totally worth it. And along with sharing expertise, we we have a jolly good time on the forum!

(P.S. Why do we say that things fall *between* the cracks? Don't they fall *into* the cracks *between* the stuff that's not cracked?)

[Valerie (Kyriosity)]

Stupid Typepad, among its many bugs, botches URLs in parens. Try this: http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/forum.html

[Carol Saller]

Thanks, Nobody--I fixed the typo. (And thank you for your kind and generous tone!)

[Megan]

@John: Agreed.

The context is wrong, but the sentiment is right:

"First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement so I must do nothing.

And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply and you're not.

And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules."

Perhaps this needs to be repeated ad nauseum to college students.

"Return to shore" = Aherence to a strict yet really just arbitrary set of rules.
"Pirate" = Professional copy editor (didn't that meme come up in an earlier blog post?)

(Overwhelming need to cite a source: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl)