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 (This
is the second in an occasional series of articles on free or near-free
magazine subscriptions. Because such subs are so thin on the ground, Bikwil
exhorts readers to write in about any they are aware of. )
Australian
Style is an offspring of the Macquarie Dictionary Society newsletter that
originally came out with the first edition of the Macquarie Dictionary.
Thanks to a grant from the Federal Government, Style Council (a subgroup
of the editors of the Mac. Dict., who are also concerned with organising
that annual language conference I mentioned in earlier columns) have so
far been able to issue Australian Style free, and 15,000 copies are
printed. How long this can continue remains to be seen, since the Federal
grant has been withdrawn.
Let’s get the
admin details out of the way right now. AS appears twice a year, it’s 16
pages long, and its ISSN is 1320-0941. You can get on the mailing list by
writing to:
Pam
Peters,
Editor
Australian Style,
Linguistics
Department,
Macquarie
University,
NSW
2109.
AS’s
purpose is to air matters
. . . of style
and usage, especially those at the frontiers of language change, and to
encourage a wide range of interested readers to participate in the
delineation of Australian style by offering information, raising questions
and expressing views.
Looking at the
most recent issue (Volume 6 No 2, June 1998), I see that it contains the
following:
Editorial on various language matters as
represented by current mailbag contents
Article on the evolution of Australian
style and usage
Article on teenage talk
Style Council report, including news
of the recently established Southeast Asian Style Councils
SCOSE Notes, a report from the ABC’s
Standing Committee on Spoken English
Draft and
draught
Unplain English
Rubicon, a regular puzzle page, part
crossword, part jigsaw, part acrostic
Feedback 12, the latest in the surveys
being conducted by AS of readers’ usage (over 500 replies are
regularly received)
Feedback Report, the results of the
previous survey, always fascinating reading, with stats by age group and
Australian state
Book Notes, this time reviewing
The
Little Book of Style
Letters to the Editor (e.g. what
colour are hazel eyes really?)
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