The Weekly Wrap: March 23, 2025

The husband and I have jobs that overlap in weird ways. When he talks about his work, I generally understand what he means (and vice versa). But, we long ago realized that we can't edit each other's work writing.

I'm in academia; he's in the legal field. Our writing styles are very (very) different. 

Academic writing tends to be a bit... verbose. When I'm working on academic articles, I tend to fall into the trap of thorough explanation and lingo. That drives the husband batty. He wants to edit out specific things that I, by professional conventions, need to leave in. In the legal field, you only answer the question asked. You don't usually add backstory or context like you do in academia.

He once asked me to give a draft he was working on a read over. I wanted to change some things to, in my mind, make them more understandable. He took one look at my revisions and immediately changed everything back. Turns out, the revisions I was suggesting would have different legal interpretations. Apparently specific words signal things to lawyers and courts. 

It's fascinating how one language can be used in so many ways. We're using the same words, but the context in which we all work changes so many things.

What are the quirks of writing in your industry?

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• Is everything on the internet AI slop now? Pretty much. [Futurism]
• Another example of our broken tax system. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• The Trump administration's no-no words... and the ones I will be saying more often. [NYT - free archive today link]
• Rethinking keeping our Alexa devices... [Ars Technica]
• Sleeping to creativity? [WaPo - gift link]
• Restaurant menu psychology. [The Takeout]
• Yuuuuuuup! [The Feminist Parent]
  

• Reporting from Gaza. [Up First]
• When the courts and lawyers are too afraid to act, there will be no one left to fight the Trump administration. [The Daily]
• What we learned about fighting pandemics. [The Daily]
• We need abundance - but we have to get out of our own way first. [Good on Paper]

• The husband's late night rewatch is Burn Notice. I forgot how fun this show was! Lots of silly spy craft facts and explosions. This show had better production values and acting than I remember. [Hulu]
• I know that watching The Power before I finished the book would be a risky move. So far, it's working out fine because they changed so many things. The essence of plot and characters are there, but everything else is different enough that it feels like a new story. I'm loving how they portray the world and the day-to-day details in the series give depth and richness to the plot. [Amazon Prime]
• As fans of the the Washington Capitals, we are glued to the Ovi goal chase. He's so close! [Monumental]
• The nostalgia in this one had me absolutely howling. [@nicolestorydent]

• Our kiddo's love for gnocchi knows no bounds. I made sheet pan gnocchi and sausage to see if I could get her to eat a few new items. No dice - but her dad and I loved this dish. Plus, it made enough for two lunch sized leftovers that reheated well in the microwave. [The Seasoned Mom]
• When reorganizing a cabinet, I came across a stash of dried ranch seasoning I forgot we had. To use up one of the many packets, I made sheet pan ranch chicken and veggies. I skip the brown sugar and broiling step. Instead, I simply toss the chicken in some seasoning and lay it on top of the veggies. While I do trim the chicken thighs, I leave just enough fat on so that it melts off and helps give flavor to the other ingredients. This one is really yummy. [Damn Delicious]