Benjamin Dreyer
@bcdreyer.social
America's Copy Editor®
author of the New York Times/IndieBound bestseller Dreyer's English and Stet! (the game!) • Random House copy chief/managing editor (ret.) • he/him/his
benjamindreyer.com
author of the New York Times/IndieBound bestseller Dreyer's English and Stet! (the game!) • Random House copy chief/managing editor (ret.) • he/him/his
benjamindreyer.com
Pinned
Benjamin Dreyer
@bcdreyer.social
· Nov 27
Greetings, new people here at House of Copyediting. Besides first-rate, IISSM, prose advice, you'll get:
• a random theater photo of the day, sometimes more than one
• birthday alerts for dead actresses, and occasionally live ones
• Sallie updates
And it's all free!
• a random theater photo of the day, sometimes more than one
• birthday alerts for dead actresses, and occasionally live ones
• Sallie updates
And it's all free!
Okay, this baby gets one final post (for now) before I put it back into its box, carefully wrapped in tissue paper.
(Featuring special guest stars Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus typos.)
(Featuring special guest stars Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus typos.)
in the blink of an eye
[things seen and watched and read and thought]
open.substack.com
February 13, 2026 at 9:03 PM
Okay, this baby gets one final post (for now) before I put it back into its box, carefully wrapped in tissue paper.
(Featuring special guest stars Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus typos.)
(Featuring special guest stars Geraldine McEwan, Prunella Scales, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Plus typos.)
Lots and lots of Ollie.
February 13, 2026 at 8:18 PM
Lots and lots of Ollie.
Ollie birthday bonus #2.
There is one The Times, and this is it.
February 13, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Ollie birthday bonus #2.
Ollie birthday bonus #1.
It's always fun to point out that actor Oliver Reed was director Carol Reed's nephew and get a hefty bit of WAIT WHAT in response.
February 13, 2026 at 8:17 PM
Ollie birthday bonus #1.
Oh, right!
Every turnip green! Every kidney bean!
Every turnip green! Every kidney bean!
Also from The Fantasticks there are kidney beans mentioned in "Plant a Radish"...
February 13, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Oh, right!
Every turnip green! Every kidney bean!
Every turnip green! Every kidney bean!
Danny, Victor, Gertie, et al.
February 13, 2026 at 7:59 PM
Danny, Victor, Gertie, et al.
Hiding in plain sight!
Good gosh!
Good gosh!
Okay, this is really tough. The only one that comes to mind is from Gypsy “Ginger peachy, Mr. Goldstone.
Have a kumquat, have two! “
Have a kumquat, have two! “
February 13, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Hiding in plain sight!
Good gosh!
Good gosh!
Indeed, a "jay" is also a wet-behind-the-ears simpleton, often from the boondocks.
That's so "Jay." 😉
February 13, 2026 at 7:48 PM
Indeed, a "jay" is also a wet-behind-the-ears simpleton, often from the boondocks.
Reposted by Benjamin Dreyer
How the hell does the DHS secretary not have an aide who deals with her personal nonsense? Why was the pilot on the spot?
I’m guessing it all goes back to the meanest thing my grandmother could ever say about someone:
“Poor dear—she can’t keep help.”
I’m guessing it all goes back to the meanest thing my grandmother could ever say about someone:
“Poor dear—she can’t keep help.”
Holy cow, these people are not just deranged, they're big spoiled babies:
Kristi Noem reportedly fired a Coast Guard pilot for failing to move a blanket of Noem's from one plane to another amid mechanical difficulties.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Kristi Noem reportedly fired a Coast Guard pilot for failing to move a blanket of Noem's from one plane to another amid mechanical difficulties.
www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
February 13, 2026 at 5:21 PM
How the hell does the DHS secretary not have an aide who deals with her personal nonsense? Why was the pilot on the spot?
I’m guessing it all goes back to the meanest thing my grandmother could ever say about someone:
“Poor dear—she can’t keep help.”
I’m guessing it all goes back to the meanest thing my grandmother could ever say about someone:
“Poor dear—she can’t keep help.”
And there's our second!
"Plenty of Pennsylvania," from cult favorite* Plain and Fancy, which also gives a shoutout (it rolls from a to z) to, among others, iceberg lettuce and zucchini.
And xplant.
*I like it.
"Plenty of Pennsylvania," from cult favorite* Plain and Fancy, which also gives a shoutout (it rolls from a to z) to, among others, iceberg lettuce and zucchini.
And xplant.
*I like it.
“Plenty of Pennsylvania,” Plain and Fancy, kale.
February 13, 2026 at 7:17 PM
And there's our second!
"Plenty of Pennsylvania," from cult favorite* Plain and Fancy, which also gives a shoutout (it rolls from a to z) to, among others, iceberg lettuce and zucchini.
And xplant.
*I like it.
"Plenty of Pennsylvania," from cult favorite* Plain and Fancy, which also gives a shoutout (it rolls from a to z) to, among others, iceberg lettuce and zucchini.
And xplant.
*I like it.
ding ding ding ding
Kumquat (as in "you're standing in my...") from "This Plum is Too Ripe," The Fantastiks
February 13, 2026 at 7:01 PM
ding ding ding ding
An amazing and delightful essay, and it goes all sorts of places you couldn't possibly be expecting it to.
in which i discuss the reuben, a glorious sandwich and the pride of omaha
and the patriarch reuben, disowned by his father for being a slut
buttondown.com/theswordandt...
and the patriarch reuben, disowned by his father for being a slut
buttondown.com/theswordandt...
Notable Sandwiches #138: Reuben
Welcome back to Notable Sandwiches, the feature where my editor David Swanson and I trip merrily through Wikipedia’s List of Notable Sandwiches. This week, a...
buttondown.com
February 13, 2026 at 7:01 PM
An amazing and delightful essay, and it goes all sorts of places you couldn't possibly be expecting it to.
today's kind of lunatic musical theater pop quiz:
I can think of two musical theater songs that mention edible plants whose names begin with k.
Name the plants, the songs, the shows, and provide a little lyrical evidence, because I don't know everything.
Maybe there are more than two.
Go.
I can think of two musical theater songs that mention edible plants whose names begin with k.
Name the plants, the songs, the shows, and provide a little lyrical evidence, because I don't know everything.
Maybe there are more than two.
Go.
February 13, 2026 at 6:43 PM
today's kind of lunatic musical theater pop quiz:
I can think of two musical theater songs that mention edible plants whose names begin with k.
Name the plants, the songs, the shows, and provide a little lyrical evidence, because I don't know everything.
Maybe there are more than two.
Go.
I can think of two musical theater songs that mention edible plants whose names begin with k.
Name the plants, the songs, the shows, and provide a little lyrical evidence, because I don't know everything.
Maybe there are more than two.
Go.
Birthday girl Kim Novak is mostly a footnote in this piece, but heck, it's her birthday, and it's, IISSM, fun reading.
Old Acquaintance
[a happy surprise, with commentary]
open.substack.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:25 PM
Birthday girl Kim Novak is mostly a footnote in this piece, but heck, it's her birthday, and it's, IISSM, fun reading.
Okay, this works.
I don’t like Candace Owens, but I’d certainly attend her funeral.
February 13, 2026 at 5:16 PM
Okay, this works.
"I don't like Candace Owens but" is not a sentence opener that will lead you anywhere worth going.
February 13, 2026 at 4:30 PM
"I don't like Candace Owens but" is not a sentence opener that will lead you anywhere worth going.
btw
The official name of the holiday that I prefer to refer to as Presidents Day, no apostrophe, is still officially Washington's Birthday, though it never actually falls on Washington's birthday.
Also: I can't operate on this patient. He's my son!
Also: I can't operate on this patient. He's my son!
February 13, 2026 at 4:26 PM
btw
I don't actually know Bob, but "the moors road to Whitby is increasingly snowy" is something that everyone should see and know about.
Apologies all, but tonight's 'North Wind' has been postponed - apparently the moors road to Whitby is increasingly snowy with more forecast throughout the day/night! We're going to do it on Friday 6th March instead...
Anybody around Whitby on Friday? 'At The Back Of The North Wind' is back in Flowergate Hall, and I'll be discussing the legendary Black Heart of Whorlton Castle before singing a song about my favourite gravestone. Come and join us for a full evening of folky, haunto fun - pay what you fancy.
February 13, 2026 at 4:13 PM
I don't actually know Bob, but "the moors road to Whitby is increasingly snowy" is something that everyone should see and know about.
Reposted by Benjamin Dreyer
There’s a section of the populist left that wants to win internal Democratic Party fights by calling their factional opponents the “Epstein class,” and it just seems really obvious that the populist right is going to hear that as “the Jews” with some very bad results.
Current state of things: One Fox News host casually declares that Epstein’s money comes from “Jewish billionaires” and a “Jewish banking family,” another responds that he was a “sex rabbi.” www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/jes...
February 13, 2026 at 1:48 PM
There’s a section of the populist left that wants to win internal Democratic Party fights by calling their factional opponents the “Epstein class,” and it just seems really obvious that the populist right is going to hear that as “the Jews” with some very bad results.
And of course they're all three officeholders.
A base that has long made pragmatic, sober decisions appears increasingly attracted to charismatic outsiders who promise to break from the party’s failures of the last decade. They see their party’s leaders as feckless and inept.
It’s the Democratic Tea Party, with a twist. trib.al/mC5cBDA
It’s the Democratic Tea Party, with a twist. trib.al/mC5cBDA
February 13, 2026 at 3:45 PM
And of course they're all three officeholders.
today's random theater photo:
Kent Smith and Ethel Barrymore, both of them looking rather exuberantly retouched, to be honest, in An International Incident (1940)
Kent Smith and Ethel Barrymore, both of them looking rather exuberantly retouched, to be honest, in An International Incident (1940)
February 13, 2026 at 3:43 PM
today's random theater photo:
Kent Smith and Ethel Barrymore, both of them looking rather exuberantly retouched, to be honest, in An International Incident (1940)
Kent Smith and Ethel Barrymore, both of them looking rather exuberantly retouched, to be honest, in An International Incident (1940)
And it's Kim's day too!
February 13, 2026 at 3:39 PM
And it's Kim's day too!
Happy birthday to delightful Stockard Channing!
[photo by Martha Swope]
[photo by Martha Swope]
February 13, 2026 at 3:38 PM
Happy birthday to delightful Stockard Channing!
[photo by Martha Swope]
[photo by Martha Swope]
Happy Ollie's birthday.
February 13, 2026 at 3:37 PM
Happy Ollie's birthday.
Actually, no, I don't think that what Kristi Noem needs is to be fired.
February 13, 2026 at 4:43 AM
Actually, no, I don't think that what Kristi Noem needs is to be fired.