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Quotable
I was working on an article for a client today who really liked to use the
word really. I had a number of quotes from her that were relevant and helped to tell her story well, but when I had the entire
piece together and was proofreading for the final time, I realized that the word "really" really, really stuck out
in the article (really) too many times.
Using quotes is an excellent way to tell a story or share information.
I consider it part of my job to determine when my subject or client uses words that tell the story or convey the information
better than I can myself. If I put words within quotation marks, I want the person whose name is attached to those words to
feel good about them being in print. I don't ever want them to be embarrassed or feel that they've misspoken because
the fact is that nobody speaks in a manner that works perfectly in print every time.
In this case, I opted
to remove the word "really" from her sentences more than a few times. It was fine for her speaking style and, in
moderation, the word did help convey her meaning in print, but for the most part the word was distracting and her quotable
statements became much stronger without it.
It is extremely important to preserve meaning when putting a
person's words between quotation marks. Part of preserving that meaning, however, is to make the choice to change elements
of speaking that don't translate well into the written word. This may mean fixing tenses, minor rearranging of word order,
and the occasional nixing of extraneous words from a perfectly quotable spoken gem.
The trick is to know
when to eliminate the quote altogether and simply put the information in words that accurately convey the intention of
the speaker to begin with.
Fri, January 30, 2009 | link
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