Friday, March 2, 2012

Oh Mary!

Centralizing copy editing and other production functions may seem like a good idea in these times of hard times for newspapers, but surely the very best staff should be in charge of such tasks.

Unfortunately for our local newspaper, that seems not to be the case when we see things like "nondemoninatial," "ecomonics," "eleavator" and other errors.

Today, both in print and online, we see a byline for "Mary Spivey." Unless there is a new staffer, this is a rather egregious case of ignorance on the part of the regional copy desk. Kind of a shame.

--Bernice

9 comments:

  1. Or maybe Mark is coming out of the closet. LOL

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  2. Lack of care about using American English is seen in our newspapers, magazines, and television. I use these things to teach my college students how not to write and talk. I'm still trying to figure out what the channel 7 news means when they say there is a "stall" on the GWB. A stalled what? I didn't know that verb had become a noun until I heard this person, who makes a large salary, kill the spoken language. Great stuff for teachers to use, unless you hear and read what some teachers write and say.

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  3. "We have got" a favorite weather reporters phrase popularized by NBC'a in house maven and specialty commentator years ago.

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  4. While separating books to contribute to the upcoming Library book sale, I came upon my copy of the late newscaster Edwin Newman's book "On Language". It was an interesting read when I purchased the book and it's a must read again.

    This has become an acceptable phrase.."Gone Missing!"

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  5. Ms. Spivey is kinda cute, though.

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  6. Most weather casters now say, "Newark has 40 degrees. Staten Island has 30 degrees." That is fine in Spanish grammar, but in English, an inanimate object, like a town, cannot have a temperature, only a living thing can have a temp. What a mess. No wonder we're losing our edge.

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  7. If I couldn't laugh at this, I'm quite sure I'd cry. -Mark

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  8. When bookstores are closing, and people learn grammar from social media (or the news people) and spelling from Spellcheck (which can't tell the difference between two, to, and too) we are all of us heading for dangerous territory. We are rapidly becoming a nation of illiterates and political idiots.

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  9. It makes you wonder about the future when a Presidential candidate calls the current President a "snob" because he wants people to upgrade their educational pursuits.

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