I just spent the entire afternoon converting an essay I've written from MLA (which is my default citation style) into Chicago style because some journal I want to submit it to uses that style. It was serious pain in the ass. Now look, I understand that different people like different things, but if the Modern Language Association is essentially the governing body for English departments and all things literary and they have their own approved citation method, a journal that publishes scholarship on literature would abide by it. But noooo, they want Chicago, so I have to take all my parenthetical notations and turn them into endnotes. Trust me, it's much more of a hassel than it sounds.
Chicago style, though it does look elegant when all's said and done, just feels pretentious when you're trying to abide by it. MLA seems so old and comfortable in comparison. It's like the difference between straight whiskey and a manhattan -- the whiskey gets the job done and can be pretty nice by itself, and the manhattan has this pretention of refinement and probably looks down on the stright whiskey. But in the end, a manhattan tastes pretty damn good.
I need a drink.
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We use Chicago style all the time at McAfee, I like it okay, but it took some getting used to. It is really lame that everyone can't just use the same thing, but what would scholarship be without pretentiousness?
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