Shashi Cullinan Cook
Shashi is a freelance writer, editor and academic with a PhD in Education. She has been editing academic papers for over 13 years and was the managing editor of the SOTL in the South journal.
Claire Rousell
Claire is a writer, researcher and artist currently working on her second Master’s degree.
Why on earth do we call ourselves yak-shavers?
Yak-shaving is a term adopted by programmers to describe all the menial little tasks one has to complete before a project can be finalised. These tasks are as arduous and time-consuming as shaving a yak, but they are absolutely necessary – just like editing! It is also a play on words because we edit unnecessary wording (i.e. we prevent you from yakking).
We are nerds and have a daily giggle about the ridiculous name of our website.
Some thoughtful person has added a definition of the term yak-shaving to Wiktionary.
We have a Gilden Yak-shaving celebration every year on 12 December – the day when our beloved site was named (for better or for worse).