Barry Wood (Photo credit: Rockford Register Star)
Rockford Register Star “word guru”/copy editor Barry Wood has been laid off, which means the end of his GateHouse-syndicated “Wood on Words” column. I’m told that his farewell column was posted early to some websites, then pulled when one of the bosses saw it.
I’m wondering if it was this passage that caused the news manager to spike the piece:
The process of fossilization is slow but steady. For me, it was completed recently when the Register Star and its parent company, GateHouse, decided that they could no longer afford to pay me for what I do: editing stories, writing headlines, proofreading pages and writing this weekly column. The modern copy editor has to be able to do more.
Or this one:
Who wouldn’t like to be told after years of blood, sweat and tears that a company is “going in a different direction”? Well, now I’m going in a different direction. I’ve gone through the stages of grief — denial, depression, grumpy, sleepy and happy — and now I’m ready to move on.
I’ve asked Wood and Register Star executive editor Doug Gass for comment.
THE COLUMN THAT DIDN’T RUN:
By Barry Wood
GateHouse News ServiceI used to collect fossils. Now I’ve become one.
You may have heard that the newspaper business is changing. I dare say you’ve noticed the effects in this paper.
Readers of this column are about to notice another: These are the last words of Wood on Words.
The process of fossilization is slow but steady. For me, it was completed recently when the Register Star and its parent company, GateHouse, decided that they could no longer afford to pay me for what I do: editing stories, writing headlines, proofreading pages and writing this weekly column. The modern copy editor has to be able to do more.
Officially, I’m being “laid off.” How appropriate that my career is ended with a form of the word “lay.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to change “laying” to “lying” and make other corrections involving “lay” and “lie.”
By the way, Webster’s definition of “lay off” is “to put (an employee) out of work, especially temporarily” — essentially the same as “furlough.”
However, there is no illusion here: This is permanent. It may make everyone else feel better to say “layoff,” but it feels like a “firing.” To “fire” means “to dismiss from a position; discharge.” In fact, says Webster’s, this use of “fire” is a pun on “discharge.” So both words come from the use of guns.
Throw in “terminate” and “ax,” and you have quite a lethal linguistic arsenal./CONTINUES
I don’t know any of the facts on their profitability but was really surprised when they made the announcement. It seems to me that three days a week is simply unsustainable over the longer term. Either a publication is a newspaper or a periodical and I think three days a week crosses the line.
