Thursday, November 11, 2010

The (mis) Use of English Today

The following is an editorial comment from the management of Carvin' Tom Woodcarving Blog.  Those easily offended should avert their eyes from the screen...So, are the eyes of everyone who doesn't want to see what I have to say averted???  OK, here goes...

I guess I'm just getting old and crotchety, but these days I am just aghast at how otherwise intelligent people cannot seem to assemble a sentence that says what they really mean to say, for example:
 
During the news broadcast this morning I heard the (I'm assuming well-intentioned) announcer (who you would think had some mastery of the English language) say, 
 
"It's Veteran's Day and there will be ceremonies honoring those veterans who lost their lives in cemeteries throughout the land."
 
...so does that mean that if those veterans had just had the sense to not wander into a cemetery they would be alive today? Or did he really mean to say, 
 
"It's Veteran's Day and in cemeteries throughout the land there will be ceremonies honoring those veterans who lost their lives."
 
You'd think, particularly considering the intended message, that he could have gotten it right.
 
To all of my fellow Veterans, "Thanks, for a job well done!"
 
           I'm feeling much better now...

'Til next time...Keep makin' chips -- and correcting deficient English

2 comments:

Silverlining said...

Are they just hiring them too young? Is it a lack of experience, or do they just read words put before them without thinking? It's sad. Even in the newspaper, the typos are unsettling.

Our Veterans deserve much more!!!

Carvin' Tom said...

I would *like* to think that was the case -- an inexperienced, young whippersnapper -- but this guy has been around for a long time.

It could be that he was just reading what was in front of him...and... after all it *was* the 7AM news... and maybe his coffee hadn't quite kicked in.

I paused before going in to work to listen to the 7:30 news. The sentence structure was a little better.

In any case, I don't think that he meant any disrespect, except to, perhaps, Daniel Webster:-)