 |
|
|
| When is the Northwest the Southwest?
|
|
August 22, 2002
|
|
|
This interesting note just came in, highlighting one of the areas of the Waggoner that most people overlook.
|
|
|
|
Hello. I have been cruising the Gulf Islands for almost 30 years and was given for Christmas last year your 2001 guide. It is very interesting but I must point out an error. The Gulf Islands are not in the Northwest. They are in the Southwest. Once you cross the border into Canada your perspective should change. I have explained it to many American friends that if Vancouver B.C. is in the Northwest, would Prince Rupert then be in the Northerwester? They usually get the idea. Thank you for your thoughts on cruising our coasts and one day our LOPs might cross.
Regards,
Michael Leedham
Canadian sailing vessel Avalon
|
|
|
Response
|
|
|
|
I wrestled with this problem for quite a while before deciding that no good answer exists. If I call the Gulf Islands the Southwest, people will think the islands are in New Mexico. So I'm calling the entire Inside Passage the Northwest or Pacific Northwest, depending on what seems right at the time. Technically it isn't quite correct, but I think it's workable.
You will note that I spell proper names in the Canadian way, as in Pender Harbour, Bull Harbour and so on. This avoids confusion. As a U.S. publication, though, when I'm talking about harbors in general I use the U.S. spelling. Thus (to make up an example) I would say, "If you're harbor-hopping, don't miss Pender Harbour." And I'll spell center as centre when it's an actual place, such as the Driftwood Centre on North Pender Island. When it's not a place name I use U.S. spelling, as in "Go to the shopping center."
I note that Canadian publications generally stick with Canadian (British) style, even when talking about, let us say, Friday Harbor. They would say Friday Harbour.
Style is a huge and constantly evolving area in publishing. I have several books on style, and I'm amazed at the fine distinctions that exist in spelling, typography, punctuation, grammar and page layout, depending on what is said and how it is said. Even with a library of style books, publishers often come up with their own house style. Our house style calls the Inside Passage the Northwest or Pacific Northwest, and uses British spelling of Canadian place names. It resists the metric system, though, because the U.S. has not gone metric. So I generally refer to distances in feet or miles, heights in feet, and depths in fathoms.
You can see that we think about these things. In fact, working the puzzle of finding the right way to say something is one of the charming parts about publishing. To the practiced eye, it's a quick way to tell a professionally produced publication from an amateur job.
--Bob Hale
|
|
|
Back to Readers Write In |
|
|
|
