What happened to Copy Editors?
I came across a headline today on MSNBC/CNBC which read:
A second wave of Russians is fleeing Putin's regime.
A second wave of Russians are fleeing Putin's regime. or ....
A second wave of Russians have begun fleeing Putin's regime.
A second wave of Russians flees Putin's regime.
A second wave of Russians now fleeing Putin's regime!
I couldn't resist. While I love all aspects of our Bastard language, including slang and dialect, I have to draw the line somewhere. For me, written media, Ad Copy, and especially News Copy, should all reflect the most basic adherence to grammar. Below, is a paste of the comment I made, via the contact portal at CNBC.com. Let's see if they bite. If not, I do hope you can, at least, enjoy a bit of my brand of snark.
** I would encourage you to consider investing in Copy Editors. For years, all of us have been watching the language devolve before our eyes. Educated People with Communications, English and Journalism degrees, for whom English is a first language, have either forgotten, or ceased to care about the simplest and most basic grammar. I am not a spelling or slang pedant, but to see a headline that uses "is" to describe what a group of people "are " doing...Really?! Please, tell me that this wasn't edited. Looking into the article, one may consider using a few more commas. While not horrific, it certainly slows me down, to have to imagine where a shift in emphasis was intended, for a given sentence. Try to read that last sentence, with half or more of the commas missing. There needs to be a person reading and correcting copy, who understands things like what PIN and ATM stand for, and that if you mention the word 'anniversary', the word 'year' shouldn't be included in the sentence. You need someone who understands when to use 'fewer' instead of 'less', or knows the difference between 'neither', and 'either'. Hire one reasonably fast reader, who understands that, regardless of the fact that the word 'pronunciation' comes from pronounce, the middle syllable is pronounced as a short 'u' and irregardless isn't actually a word, though ain't is. If 'ain't' ain't a word, then neither is the word 'won't'. Those are the facts. Dan Broaddus.
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