Yuka: All Comments

aslo_white, Thanks for pointing out the split infinitive in my reply to a comment! (It's true, it never ends.)

I do try to avoid split infinitives when possible, but I am of the school that they're not technically wrong.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/words/split-infinitives

FinalEyes, I can imagine that typography is another hazardous trade! An interesting comparison, and thank you for it and for your sweet enthusiasm. (PS: Copy-editing is hyphenated in our house style.)

Daniela, Thanks for weighing in on maté. We weren't sure about this, but our dictionary has it with an accent, and for consistency's sake we went with that.

Diego, So interesting about the different states of Brazil, and something that we discussed as we edited and during our week of events with the authors. And thanks for telling us a good curse word!

Liz, This is an issue having to do with the lovely and underused subjunctive mood -- thanks for bringing it up! I don't think it's necessary to use it in this context, because 'if' hasn't been used to imply future doubt of something occurring. If I were (!) to use it, it would change the nuance of the sentence.

Duplicated comment

Catherine, Happy to discuss ellipses any time! (Our house style dictates spaced ellipses always.)

Mo Hayder: that's an ad we printed in the Book, for Bath Spa University.

Duplicated comment

Hahaha! Miss Read, this was exactly what I wanted to happen when we posted this. Thanks for joining us in freakdom.

'It was Friday afternoon and we were ready to celebrate.' I see your point, and have added a comma.

fielding comments/changes: fielding can mean 'to take care of or respond to (as a telephone call or a request)' so I think this is OK.

dust-covered: in our style guide, we hyphenate compound adjectives if removing the comma might cause confusion.

copy-edit, proofread, wash cloth: these follow our style guide (based on the Oxford Dictionary of Writers and Editors, Oxford Spelling Dictionary, and the 11th edition of the Oxford Concise Dictionary.)

connect words to each other/one another: I went back and forth on this, but concluded that a word is only connected to the word next to it -- hence each other. Now that you've pointed it out, though, I'm starting to agree with you. I think I'll change.

'pure' in quotes: you're absolutely right; I have removed.

Thanks for the link, Ollie! El mappa de la vida sounds interesting. Many compelling metaphors of terror: roller coasters, Giotto's winged inventions.

Sammy, thanks for your thoughts. I agree that 9/11 has been 'made' impossible to tackle. I think writers ARE tackling it, really; just not in the head-on way that people have come to expect.