Mark Samuels sent along these complaints that made me wonder if perhaps
\nhe had an impacted molar at the time:<\/p>\n
The older I become, the more the daily diet of shallow and ill-educated talking heads that the broadcast media provides me tends to grind upon me, particularly when certain buzzwords are picked up, used over and over, and then bleed into print journalism. And we all agree, of course, that print journalism is the last bastion of literacy in the civilized
\nworld.<\/p>\nSome examples:<\/p>\n
“CLEARLY<\/strong>, blah blah blah. . .” CLEARLY, this is
\nbeing overused and I want to throw up every time I hear some pretentious, egocentric politician\/commentator\/tv reporter use it.<\/li>\nOr tune in to the overuse of AS WELL<\/strong>, when a simple ALSO
\nor TOO would do.Then there is the grating conversion of a noun or adjective to a verb:<\/li>\nAn IMPACT<\/strong> may impinge or strike (noun). And we may have IMPACTED teeth, an IMPACTED area where the state provides services but derives little tax revenue because of tax-exempt federal property, and we may even be IMPACTED by being wedged in or packed (all adjectives)
\nBut Johnny’s inability to speak or write the Queen’s English was not IMPACTED by his refusal to do his lessons, although that refusal may have had an IMPACT upon his situation. IMPACT is never a verb, much less a past-tense transitive verb in the form of IMPACTED. Clearly, there are many other examples that have impacted our speech and reporting as well.<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mark Samuels sent along these complaints that made me wonder if perhaps he had an impacted molar at the time: The older I become, the more the daily diet of shallow and ill-educated talking heads that the broadcast media provides … Continue reading