Thursday, November 03, 2005

Don't quit your day job

Have you read the book Kitchen Confidential? It's written by Anthony Bourdain. He's the executive chef of Les Halles in New York City. He uses a lot of italics in his writing, and I find myself reading a sentence over and over again to get the gist of how he intended it to be read.

For example, he writes:
"I love the restaurant business..."
"I'd still like to be a chef, too..."
"Food had power. It could inspire, astonish, shock, excite, delight and impress."

Did you catch yourself reading that last sentence a couple times? I have no idea how to read that last word without it sounding in my head like I'm forcing it to sound italicized. Seems to me like the italics should have been on "and" and not "impress". Who the hell am I to judge? I'm not even an executive chef, much less a writer.

When I read that many italics in print, the intended effect starts to lose its power. Like when I write italics, they don't have the same effect as when I bold them. Or when I bold them. Or when I bold them. Or when I bold them.

You can lose the emphasis of bolding when you bold an entire sentence.


BUT THEN IF YOU CAPITALIZE IT, IT GETS MORE EMPHASIS BACK.

Back to the point about italics. Don't use your italics too generously. Or you might find yourself the subject of a blog that any moron with a keyboard and an internet connection could produce.