Two weeks ago the SF Chronicle ran an article telling us how to pronounce 2010, according to a certain association. That any association is issuing such dictates is bad enough. That they put it in a press release is worse. That the SF Chronicle actually ran with the story is worse yet.
But, worst of all: The "certain association" is basically one guy with some oversized cojones. (He calls himself and his chums the National Association of Good Grammar, or NAGG.)
Here's the article.
Here's LanguageLog's response.
I'm offended not just as a language lover but as a journalist.
Oy.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Oh, for the love of Pete ...
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4 comments:
That guy's a knob!
Well put! I'll second that.
Y'know, Grammar Girl's podcast last week was about how to say the 2010. And guess what she pointed out: most other languages say the whole number, all the time. So what's with this dude saying that we *have* to chunk it? Oh, is that English is the only "perfect" language? Erg.
I wonder if he really believes he's so right he can actually lay down the law or whether he's just angling for attention. He has a book coming out, so I suspect it's the latter.
Still, reporters shouldn't be so eager to take the bait on stuff like this.
Erg indeed.
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