A. Oops Newspapers and magazines are increasingly printing material with bad grammar, misspellings, wrong usage, incorrect punctuation. These are not typographical errors, mistakes in production; they are the handiwork of the newswriters. Look at these: "As long as they respect my corner and I respect their's, there's enough to go around."—The New York Times.
Newark, N.J. (AP)—Americans are the worst spellers in the English-speaking world, according to the results of an international spelling bee.... Gallup's spelling test ... follows a simmlar multination survey....
That is just one reason to cheer the publishing of this fulsome biography....—Book review in Nieman Reports. (Fulsome: gross; disgusting by excess.) Spanish words seem to give New York Times reporters trouble, although the city has more than a million Spanish-speaking residents: "I'll eat at home," he said, turning his back on the cucinas and Chinese restaurant.... (Not cucinas,cocinas.)
In a piece about the advertising business in Mexico, an account executive said he had to cope with the "morbito," a colloquialism for bribe. (It's mordida, from the verb morder, to bite.) For the next week, be on the lookout for errors of this sort in newspapers and other publications that you read. Do any publications have a preponderance of errors? Why? |