To 'e' or not to 'e'
For this issue of the magazine, I’ve spent an unhealthy amount of time worrying about the spelling of ‘whisky’. Scotch whisky has no ‘e’. Irish or American whiskey has an ‘e’. I’m okay with that rule—I don’t understand its genesis, but I appreciate its obtuseness. The problem is that one of our features is about the entire genre. Are they generically whiskies or whiskeys? Should I painstakingly differentiate based on geography? What if the drink is Japanese? And what kind of syntactical jumble might result from all that? In the end, for the sake of consistency and ease, I’ve gone with no ‘e’ throughout. Anyone who takes issue with my choice should contact the press regulator.

Far too much of my brain is taken up by this nonsense. Capitalisation is the real killer. Capital letters hinder legibility and seem a bit shouty (Trump loves to pepper them randomly through his tweets), so I avoid using them as much as possible, but the grey areas are a constant source of stress. Are those tasty little potatoes Jersey Royals, Jersey royals or jersey royals? Should we capitalise Chianti, because it’s a place, but not capitalise barolo, because it’s not? These are the choices I have to make. While the reality is that very few readers will care—or even notice—if we refer to the 80s or the eighties, and which spelling of hummus we decide to use, being vexed about the small stuff is part of my job. I genuinely did wake up at 4am stressing about the whisky / whiskey thing, though, and that’s just sad. Or, as Trump would have it, Sad.

Mark Riddaway
Editor