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.) • Angeleno • 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.) • Angeleno • 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!
Suddenly realized I was missing a few volumes of the Del Rey Oz collection.
Rectifying!
Rectifying!
September 27, 2026 at 1:20 AM
Suddenly realized I was missing a few volumes of the Del Rey Oz collection.
Rectifying!
Rectifying!
I don’t know if any of y’all have observed any of the little melodramatic/psychotic AI skits that have infested Facebook, but ye gods and little fishes.
September 27, 2026 at 12:06 AM
I don’t know if any of y’all have observed any of the little melodramatic/psychotic AI skits that have infested Facebook, but ye gods and little fishes.
Just saw someone asking if the new Harris-Lange film of Long Day’s Journey is “a remake of the Sidney Lumet film,” and I went all Nathan Fillion gif for a minute.
September 26, 2026 at 10:38 PM
Just saw someone asking if the new Harris-Lange film of Long Day’s Journey is “a remake of the Sidney Lumet film,” and I went all Nathan Fillion gif for a minute.
Just read something so completely batshit I can’t even bring myself to subtweet it.
September 26, 2026 at 10:09 PM
Just read something so completely batshit I can’t even bring myself to subtweet it.
I've just encountered the account of a book published with a typo on its jacket, and though I don't know the particulars (when was it discovered? was any attempt made to rejacket any/some of the first printing? etc.), I have nothing but compassion/pity for everyone involved, esp. the author.
September 26, 2026 at 8:27 PM
I've just encountered the account of a book published with a typo on its jacket, and though I don't know the particulars (when was it discovered? was any attempt made to rejacket any/some of the first printing? etc.), I have nothing but compassion/pity for everyone involved, esp. the author.
They will beg you for advice.
Your reply will be concise.
And they'll listen very nicely
Then go out and do precisely
What they want.
🤷🏻♂️
Your reply will be concise.
And they'll listen very nicely
Then go out and do precisely
What they want.
🤷🏻♂️
September 26, 2026 at 7:14 PM
They will beg you for advice.
Your reply will be concise.
And they'll listen very nicely
Then go out and do precisely
What they want.
🤷🏻♂️
Your reply will be concise.
And they'll listen very nicely
Then go out and do precisely
What they want.
🤷🏻♂️
Reposted by Benjamin Dreyer
“Always acknowledge the gift of a book before there has been time to read it; if you wait you have to commit yourself to an opinion.”
📸 John Gay (1948)
📸 John Gay (1948)
September 26, 2026 at 4:45 PM
“Always acknowledge the gift of a book before there has been time to read it; if you wait you have to commit yourself to an opinion.”
📸 John Gay (1948)
📸 John Gay (1948)
*taps fingertip to nose*
What a bold way for someone to say “I’m a bad writer.”
September 26, 2026 at 4:13 PM
*taps fingertip to nose*
“I live to make copy editors weep in frustration.”
How nice for you.
How nice for you.
September 26, 2026 at 3:44 PM
“I live to make copy editors weep in frustration.”
How nice for you.
How nice for you.
...and today is Mary Beth Hurt's first posthumous birthday.
❤️
❤️
September 26, 2026 at 2:51 PM
...and today is Mary Beth Hurt's first posthumous birthday.
❤️
❤️
today's partly random theater photo:
Thomas Gibson and birthday boy Philip Bosco in The Miser (1990)
📸: Martha Swope
Thomas Gibson and birthday boy Philip Bosco in The Miser (1990)
📸: Martha Swope
September 26, 2026 at 2:39 PM
today's partly random theater photo:
Thomas Gibson and birthday boy Philip Bosco in The Miser (1990)
📸: Martha Swope
Thomas Gibson and birthday boy Philip Bosco in The Miser (1990)
📸: Martha Swope
Happy Julie London centenary!
September 26, 2026 at 2:35 PM
Happy Julie London centenary!
Happy George Gershwin's birthday!
[photographed by Carl Van Vechten]
[photographed by Carl Van Vechten]
September 26, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Happy George Gershwin's birthday!
[photographed by Carl Van Vechten]
[photographed by Carl Van Vechten]
One final post on this baby before I have to put it away for a hundred years.
Happy Aldo Ray's birthday!
[a centenary tribute]
benjamindreyer.substack.com
September 26, 2026 at 1:16 AM
One final post on this baby before I have to put it away for a hundred years.
Reposted by Benjamin Dreyer
The sky in NYC right now. It was nice knowing all of you.
September 25, 2026 at 10:54 PM
The sky in NYC right now. It was nice knowing all of you.
🙏🏻
September 26, 2026 at 12:09 AM
🙏🏻
🙏🏻
In his newsletter today, @bcdreyer.social salutes Aldo Ray on his birthday by recommending The Marrying Kind, a recommendation I can happily second.
Ray was so distinctively handsome, with an unusual and effective voice and real screen presence.
Ray was so distinctively handsome, with an unusual and effective voice and real screen presence.
Happy Aldo Ray's birthday!
[a centenary tribute]
benjamindreyer.substack.com
September 25, 2026 at 11:42 PM
🙏🏻
Once again advocating for the inclusion of “as you may already know” in deeply educative responses to people who may indeed already know.
September 25, 2026 at 11:16 PM
Once again advocating for the inclusion of “as you may already know” in deeply educative responses to people who may indeed already know.
Wondering if the new Lizzie Borden thing is any better than the soup-hurling preview.
September 25, 2026 at 11:14 PM
Wondering if the new Lizzie Borden thing is any better than the soup-hurling preview.
I guess that the best argument, for me, against AI is that everyone advocating it seems to be a psychopath.
September 25, 2026 at 10:53 PM
I guess that the best argument, for me, against AI is that everyone advocating it seems to be a psychopath.
Not surprised that a response beginning "being pedantic" continues, in two installments, with an unnecessary explanation (to me) of what I (as in me) just said.
September 25, 2026 at 8:49 PM
Not surprised that a response beginning "being pedantic" continues, in two installments, with an unnecessary explanation (to me) of what I (as in me) just said.
IC, as they say, YMI
Happy Aldo Ray centenary to all who celebrate!
Happy Aldo Ray's birthday!
[a centenary tribute]
benjamindreyer.substack.com
September 25, 2026 at 8:11 PM
IC, as they say, YMI
First episode of the new GBBS [sic] season, and: How enchanting.
September 25, 2026 at 8:07 PM
First episode of the new GBBS [sic] season, and: How enchanting.
The only thing I have to say about iced coffee is that I expect you to pronounce the d.
September 25, 2026 at 6:41 PM
The only thing I have to say about iced coffee is that I expect you to pronounce the d.
Reposted by Benjamin Dreyer
"The administration has essentially declared war on car owners...They are replacing parking spots with bike corrals and trash enclosures, escalating ticketing activity"
September 25, 2026 at 5:56 PM
"The administration has essentially declared war on car owners...They are replacing parking spots with bike corrals and trash enclosures, escalating ticketing activity"