Being the Curmudgeon

 

I sent an email to the metro editor at the San Antonio Express-News this morning, about the following passage from an article about a board dispute at a local school district. Quote from the article:

Rep. Roland Gutierrez wrote a letter to Sen. Flores, which he shared on Twitter, calling the senator’s efforts to reign in the South San board “ill-conceived, ill-advised, and poorly received by your peers.”

I had read the article in my dead-tree edition, then went and looked at it online. The mistake was there, and the online headline included it.

I commented on it and the same day the headline was changed, but today, nine days later, the mistake remained in the text of the article so I emailed the metro editor. I’ll be interested to see how long it takes for it to be fixed.

Is it too much to expect a reporter to know the difference in words like “reign” and “rein?” Is it an autocorrect or spellcheck sort of error? I have seen many people write “free reign” when I am pretty sure they meant “free rein.” And the other thing I wonder is, why use a word when you really don’t know the meaning? Seeking comments from newsmen. (James.)

Like I said in the title, I know it’s sort of curmudgeonly to point it out but otherwise how will it ever get better?

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  1. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    WillowSpring (View Comment):

    Its not just newspapers. I had a young engineer working for me who would hand in a report which he clearly hadn’t proofread. (yes – engineers should be able to write so their thoughts can be understood) I would point out to him that if he couldn’t be bothered to review his own work, why should I – or anyone else – put any faith in it.

    Never worked.

    Remarkable how many people believe that as long as they are good at ‘X’, anything else just isn’t their job. 

    • #31
  2. Cow Girl Thatcher
    Cow Girl
    @CowGirl

    Stad (View Comment):

    Our local paper is so chock full of mistakes, there’s no use in pointing them out because they might offer me a job as editor. My favorite was a local reporter who covered an accident, then wrote about how one car ended up in the “medium”. She meant “median” . . .

    There is also a strong possibility that she didn’t know that “medium” wasn’t the correct word for it…I encounter that quite frequently. It is depressing to discover how many people do not know that the word they’ve been using their whole life is not even the correct word. I don’t mind or judge in my classroom–I fix it; after all those people are only 10. But it is a little disconcerting to realize that you can get all the way through college, and think that “medium” is the word for the strip of land between the traffic lanes.

    • #32
  3. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Cow Girl (View Comment):

    But it is a little disconcerting to realize that you can get all the way through college, and think that “medium” is the word for the strip of land between the traffic lanes.

    It’s the sort of thing that happens when you listen to podcasts instead of reading Ricochet posts. 

    • #33
  4. Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw Member
    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw
    @MattBalzer

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Cow Girl (View Comment):

    But it is a little disconcerting to realize that you can get all the way through college, and think that “medium” is the word for the strip of land between the traffic lanes.

    It’s the sort of thing that happens when you listen to podcasts instead of reading Ricochet posts.

    I’ve been a victim of mishearing a word I had only read at least as much as the reverse.

    • #34
  5. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Cow Girl (View Comment):

    Stad (View Comment):

    Our local paper is so chock full of mistakes, there’s no use in pointing them out because they might offer me a job as editor. My favorite was a local reporter who covered an accident, then wrote about how one car ended up in the “medium”. She meant “median” . . .

    There is also a strong possibility that she didn’t know that “medium” wasn’t the correct word for it…I encounter that quite frequently. It is depressing to discover how many people do not know that the word they’ve been using their whole life is not even the correct word. I don’t mind or judge in my classroom–I fix it; after all those people are only 10. But it is a little disconcerting to realize that you can get all the way through college, and think that “medium” is the word for the strip of land between the traffic lanes.

    People probably read as much as they ever did, but they read online – which means they read the unedited spoutings of their ill-schooled peers. 

    • #35
  6. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Matt Balzer, Imperialist Claw (View Comment):

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Cow Girl (View Comment):

    But it is a little disconcerting to realize that you can get all the way through college, and think that “medium” is the word for the strip of land between the traffic lanes.

    It’s the sort of thing that happens when you listen to podcasts instead of reading Ricochet posts.

    I’ve been a victim of mishearing a word I had only read at least as much as the reverse.

    I frequently don’t know how to properly pronounce the name of Mr. Shmoe in the news and will wrongly guess at it to my eventual embarrassment (how was I supposed to know it rhymed with ‘duck’?) 

    • #36
  7. WillowSpring Member
    WillowSpring
    @WillowSpring

    TBA (View Comment):
    Remarkable how many people believe that as long as they are good at ‘X’, anything else just isn’t their job.

    The other thing I noticed about younger engineers/programmers is that they felt that their degree meant they were good at ‘X’ and didn’t need to study or read any more.

    • #37
  8. Tex929rr Coolidge
    Tex929rr
    @Tex929rr

    WillowSpring (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):
    Remarkable how many people believe that as long as they are good at ‘X’, anything else just isn’t their job.

    The other thing I noticed about younger engineers/programmers is that they felt that their degree meant they were good at ‘X’ and didn’t need to study or read any more.

    This was an issue when my wife and I competed our engineering degrees in the early 80’s – it has to be worse now.

    The USAF had a great class that was mandatory for officers and many NCO’s back then – the effective writing course.  Totally discouraged typical .gov type tricks like passive voice and other pervasive forms of obfuscation.  Of course, the minute someone went to a higher level staff they forgot it all.

    • #38
  9. TBA Coolidge
    TBA
    @RobtGilsdorf

    Tex929rr (View Comment):

    WillowSpring (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):
    Remarkable how many people believe that as long as they are good at ‘X’, anything else just isn’t their job.

    The other thing I noticed about younger engineers/programmers is that they felt that their degree meant they were good at ‘X’ and didn’t need to study or read any more.

    This was an issue when my wife and I competed our engineering degrees in the early 80’s – it has to be worse now.

    The USAF had a great class that was mandatory for officers and many NCO’s back then – the effective writing course. Totally discouraged typical .gov type tricks like passive voice and other pervasive forms of obfuscation. Of course, the minute someone went to a higher level staff they forgot it all.

    I could never forget Tongue & Quill.  

    • #39
  10. Slow on the uptake Coolidge
    Slow on the uptake
    @Chuckles

    WillowSpring (View Comment):

    TBA (View Comment):
    Remarkable how many people believe that as long as they are good at ‘X’, anything else just isn’t their job.

    The other thing I noticed about younger engineers/programmers is that they felt that their degree meant they were good at ‘X’ and didn’t need to study or read any more.

    Maybe so, but I figured out that not studying, not reading, not working to expand your knowledge, meant you were soon only good in an obsolete field.  If that was true when I was active it has to be more so today.

    • #40
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