We cats are tired of being curmudgeons, but the state of today's journalism is forcing us into it.
Just days ago we had to write the ombudsman at The Washington Post, complaining that the Republican pejorative "Democrat party" appeared in a news story. Mr. Ombudsman wrote us back, apologizing that the term had been "creeping into WaPo copy of late."
Alarming. We cats say: Don't talk about it "creeping." Just fix it.
Today, we once again had to contact the Post about a grammatical error. Although not as sinister as using "Democrat" as an adjective, this one just drives us wild. Reporters on a "Herb" Cain story used "laid" as a past tense for the verb "to lie."
(Yes, we know that several jokes about Herb Cain lying are spinning around in your head right now. But the sentence in question referred to Mr. Cain reclining to sunbathe — not to telling an untruth, which he evidently often does.)
You know why the Post should care about proper grammar? Well, aside from the obvious — that one should speak and write English well — there's an economic argument. It's the older consumer who cares about good grammar; coincidentally, it's people in that older demographic who are still buying newspapers and magazines. Which means a greater proportion of the Post's readers likely still value good writing — even if the reporters are now all 25 years old (and most of their editors are 30).
As for Herb Cain lying, there's some new news on that.
UPDATE: November 5: We're happy to report that POLITICO, which has sinned with "lie/lay" in the past, got it right today. Congratulations!
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