H

ad 
I 
owned 
a 

laptop 
in 
early 

high 
school, 
I 

probably would’ve had one 
of those text bubble “*you’re” 
stickers smugly displayed on 
it, announcing to the world 
how grammatically superior 
I was to those who dared 
to write “your welcome.” 

Luckily, I didn’t have a 
laptop, and luckily, my view 
of grammar has changed 
since then.

Grammar has always been 

something I thought was 
both fun and important, 
particularly 
as 
someone 

who considers themselves 
detail-oriented. 
Having 

parents 
who 
routinely 

pointed 
out 
misplaced 

apostrophes 
or 
quotation 

marks on signs and menus, I 
became a grammar stickler 
myself 
and 
had 
proudly 

written my first email to Ford 
Motor Company criticizing 
their use of the phrase “less 
stops” 
[COPY: 
fewer] 
in 

one of their commercials 
by age 13. A source of 
pride for me became my 
knowledge of language and 
grammatical 
structure, 

from 
understanding 
the 

difference 
between 
a 

subject and a direct object to 
noticing dangling modifiers 
and misused commas.

However, I have also 

become a lover of shorthand 
texting. In my everyday 
communications, 
I 
often 

don’t have to worry about 

the 
difference 

between “your” and 
“you’re” 
because 

I have come to 
replace them both 

with 
“ur,” 
and 
I 

now find myself even 

avoiding 
grammatically 

correct structures to be 

more casual with my 

friends. 
It 
would 

seem that my love 

for 
“correct” 

grammar 
and 

disdain for those 

who 
didn’t 
use 

it 
would 
contradict 

my frequent use of 
shortened words and 
texting 
acronyms, 

which 
raises 
a 

question: How could I 
reconcile loving both?

The 
answer, 
I 

found, 
is 
that 
both 

styles 
are 
valuable 

because of their ability 
to accurately convey 
information, regardless 
of 
whether 
they’re 

recognized 
as 
“standard” 

or 
not. 
After 
taking 
a 

cultural 
linguistics 
class, 

I realized that language, 
and 
more 
specifically, 

grammar, exists to allow for 
effective 
communication 

between people, and really, 
its only failure is if it’s not 
understandable. As long as 
I write with a consistent 
style to someone, even if it’s 
not standard English, my 
grammar is doing its job. 
For instance, my friends 

are accustomed to my use 
of “lmao wtf” and “rn,” and 
therefore 
my 
shorthand 

style is perfectly acceptable 
for that context, as long as 
I don’t change the meaning 
of these acronyms without 
telling them.

At The Michigan Daily, 

we use our standardized 
stylebook 
for 
the 
same 

reason: We want our writing 
to be understood. Largely 
based on AP Style, The 
Daily 
Stylebook 
follows 

grammatical 
guidelines 

similar to the ones many 
other newspapers use, as this 
uniformity allows readers 
to understand us, while also 
making sure our paper looks 
precise 
and 
professional. 

While many probably think 
copy editors’ nitpicking and 
subtle changes are largely 
inconsequential, 
using 

the same style for every 
piece 
allows 
for 
clarity 

of our writers’ messages. 
For example, we use “the 
University,” with a capital 
U, to refer to the University 
of 
Michigan 
on 
second 

reference. If we were to edit 
an article that discussed 
“the struggles of a university 
student,” there would be an 
important difference if we 
capitalized the U, as it would 
change the meaning from 
“the struggles of a college 

student” to “the struggles 
of a University of Michigan 
student.” 
If 
we 
started 

capitalizing 
“university” 

arbitrarily, 
the 
intended 

meaning from our writer 
would be lost.

The importance of our 

style, I believe, is not that 
it is standard English, but 
that its uniformity conveys 
the correct meaning of our 
writers’ 
words. 
Realizing 

this is true with all styles 
of speaking and writing, 
whether lingo or standard 
English, has allowed me to 
still do what I love to do: pay 
attention to small details. 
Now, luckily, I do it to make 
sure I understand or convey 
the 
precise 
meaning 
of 

something, and not simply 
to show off my grammatical 
dominance via laptop sticker.

Wednesday, November 7, 2018 // The Statement
2B

Copy That:
What do U mean?

BY MADELINE TURNER, COPY EDITOR

The answer, I found, is that both styles 
are valuable because of their ability 
to accurately convey information, 

regardless of whether they’re recognized 

as “standard” or not. 

ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY KOFFSKY

Managing Statement Editor:

Brian Kuang

Deputy Editors:

Colin Beresford

Jennifer Meer

Editor in Chief:

Alexa St. John

Photo Editor:

Amelia Cacchione

Designer:

Elizabeth Bigham

Managing Editor:

Dayton Hare

Copy Editors:

Elise Laarman

Finntan Storer
statemen
t

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | NOVEMBER 7, 2018

