April Showers Bring April Fools
It's certainly April Fools' Month for me! Before my recent run-in with a job scammer, a YouTuber named Elisa (on the French mornings with Elisa channel) had done a bang-up job pulling the wool over my eyes on her coverage of the French spelling reform in 2024.
Like the scammer experience, I felt something was off with the video since drastic, bizarre changes to long-standing language conventions wouldn't happen overnight, but Elisa's delivery was so convincing. Plus, the reported reform coincided with the latest changes in AP and Chicago styles on this side of the Atlantic.
I scrolled down to see the video posting date. Sure enough, it was . . . April 1. 🤦♀️🤣
I should've trusted my gut feeling and scrolled down the comment section like I normally do while watching videos. 😂
But of course, this doesn't stop me from watching videos on language learning. It's always been one of my favorite things to do.
Language learning was actually the bridge that helped me cross over to what I'm doing now. I'd always wanted to be a language professional (writer, journalist, translator, and occasional poet), but funnily enough, being an editor or proofreader never crossed my mind until much later. ESL and foreign language studies prepared me for copyediting (or copy editing depending on the industry or niche) and proofreading. I learned the different rules, conventions, and nuances of each language.
What about you? What got you started in your writing journey—or whatever you do with words?
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(In other news, I've recently gotten a raise effective April 1, and no, it's not a prank, thankfully.)