Words/phrases that cause Edward R Murrow to whirl in his grave

[SoCalDem]

I'll start:


"just put out a tweet" :rofl:

[LuckyLib]

1. "Fair" and "balanced"

[Ichingcarpenter]

2. Spain sets deadline for US to investigate TORTURE

as mentioned in the other thread.

[PCIntern]

3. "snuck"

...rather than 'sneaked'...I know Iknow: it's in common usage now...where I come from, it was sorse than using the word 'ain't', b/c 'ain't' was a word often used to emphasize...the usage of this travesty is just lazy English.

[Odin2005]

7. Language changes. Deal with it.

[PCIntern]

9. Illiterates unite!

[Odin2005]

13. Language change is illiteracy?

[Sal Minella]

14. Labeling illiteracy as "language change" is the lazy man's way

out of learning to use standard grammar and verb forms.

"I have went" and "they had drank" are constructions not likely to migrate from the Tea Party into living American English anytime soon.

[Odin2005]

16. Oh good lord, I'm a teabagger because I say "I had ate"?

All of us in the Midwest must be absolute "morans" because we say "we had boughten it" and "it needs fixed", then. :eyes:

Do I need to give an hour-long lecture on English linguistics? :eyes:

[Sal Minella]

17. Please don't exert yourself unduly.

I make good money editing manuscripts for people who suddenly realize their personal "English linguistics" are in need of amending prior to publication.

[PCIntern]

18. Absolutely...

"Language change"? Jeez, in my English/Latin/French classes, I'd have FAILED OUTRIGHT if I had used any of the constructions given here as examples of my 'erudition'. And well that I should have...

Ain't it sumpin'?

[Sal Minella]

19. "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" is a book I haven't read yet

but it's on the list.

Reading anything written by Thomas Jefferson always makes me wish we could administer a pill to a child to instill such clarity of thought and elegance of expression.

A friend who teaches on-line is mystified at how frequently "defiantly" is used for "definitely" by her students -- one sees "definately" frequently, and I have a hunch that "defiantly" is suggested in the Spel-Chek box as a "correct" spelling.

As I've been telling people for years, if you think spell-check is a good thing, you really need a proofreader.

And as to verb tenses and forms -- sometimes I have almost gave up.

[Flubadubya]

22. I do medical transcription for "learned" physicians...

Hah! You wouldn't believe what passes for English grammar and syntax. There is also one of them who has to "spell" a word every now and then (from his experience with past not-so-literate transcriptionists). Funny thing, though, he often misspells the word he is wanting to be spelled correctly, e.g. he recently spelled "inured" for me as "i-n-n-u-r-e-d". I have told him I appreciate his efforts, but I really don't need him to spell for me... to no avail, alas! :(

A pet peeve or two of mine... "I seen"; "alot"; "noone" (for no one); and, of course, your example "definately"... ugh!

OMG... I just ran DU's spell-check on this note and first it didn't know what "transcriptionist" was, but worse, it accepted "definately". I'm just gob-smacked!!

[SoCalDem]

23. I was shocked when my sons were in school. I got notes from the TEACHER

with misspelled words, and often on their corrected papers, she did not mark the misspellings. I asked about it, and was told that she was "lenient" with the spelling, because she did not want to discourage the kids.. :wtf:

I have to admit, that I once "corrected" a note she sent home:evilgrin:

So I had spelling word lists every week..at home, and always corrected my sons' spelling, grammar, syntax, punctuation.

[Odin2005]

25. To make myself clear, I use impeccable grammar in formal writing and speech.

I just don't like being bugged for saying "that works good" on DU. ;-)

[Flubadubya]

26. Exactly...

You should be allowed to unlax on DU, and a little malapropism from time to time, lol! ;)

[Odin2005]

27. LOL! It really is hilarious how many dialectisms we use without thinking.

I really think a few hundred years from now English will be like Arabic, a formal standard (Modern Standard Arabic) used in the news and in formal writing, but everything else done in the vernacular forms. The term for it is Diglossia, very interesting phenomenon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diglossia

[Sal Minella]

28. I was a medical transcriptionist for a few years.

The worst season was Christmas, when the residents would dictate case summaries and op notes while chewing on hard candy. I blame my present hearing deficit on that!

[IDemo]

21. -

[yourout]

4. "Liberal Media"

[jwirr]

5. 60 vote filibuster law.

[kudzu22]

11. In Murrow's day it was 67

votes needed for cloture, if all senators were present.

[jwirr]

15. But they actually had to filibuster in those days. Today it is just a pass.

[blondeatlast]

6. "Speculated" and "pundit." Neither constitutes news. nt

[SoCalDem]

10. and when Palin says it..pundint

:rofl:

[Odin2005]

8. News Analyst

[kudzu22]

12. "Poll"

Since when did poll results become news?

[lame54]

20. Spudnut moment

[delightfulstar]

24. "Media conglomerate"

It completely flies in the face of objectivity, when you have to report on your own company, then make some BS statement like "The Behemoth Corporation is the parent company of this network..."