Sometimes, I love what pedants pick up, even when I goof. I love The Atlantic for this reason, reading through Barbara Walraff’s ‘Word Court’. Here’s a great one from Josh, who points out a problem in the Irish paper—I mean, The New Zealand Herald.
   I have a lot of reasons to like the Herald, balanced by a lot of reasons to hate it, so I am “fair and balanced”. And here’s one to hate it: an inability to use the English language. In its editorial today:

Maori have reminded the bridge managers that they readily hoisted the Team NZ petard during the America’s Cup.

   I’ll let Josh explain the rest. Now, I would add a macron on the a in Māori—after all, this is an official language in New Zealand; and I am one of those oddballs who like seeing America italicized in the above context, since it is the name of a ship, not the continent(s).
   Personal note: it’s still useful to keep a copy of an Oxford dictionary (an old Concise, in my case, and the latest includes the verb sex it up) next to the computer monitor. Posted by Jack Yan, 04:16  permalink

comments

Post a Comment  Links to this post