mr. language grumbler

[calimac]

Can't journalists for respectable newspapers come up with a better opening line than that annoying phrase, "When it comes to ..."? What is the "it" that is coming?

Surely this particular example could have just as easily begun, "Law enforcement officials vocally advocate one particular approach for protecting children on the Internet." Or any number of other ways.

And while we're at it, enough with the "second ... after" gap. Here's a good example: a headline reading "India, the second largest newspaper market after China," which immediately raises the question, "So then what's the first largest one after China?" Of course, on reading the article one finds that the headline actually means "India, the second largest newspaper market in the world (China is the first)" but that's not what it says.

Both of these annoyances were once rare, but they're now very common, and very annoying.

Comments

[emerdavid.livejournal.com]

Neither of those phrases bothers me as much as "At the end of the day..." The latter may not be grammatically/logically incorrect, but it's sooooo trite.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Over 20 years ago, before the Web (so this was a pioneering effort), Michael Kinsley ran a few phrase searches through Nexis, the news database, and wrote a hilarious article describing what Vital Questions were being considered by Thoughtful Observers, and expressing alarm at the sheer volume of things that Remain To Be Seen. I don't thing he considered what was happening at the end of the day, but he certainly could have.

[barondave.livejournal.com]

I blame blogs.

More specifically, I think much of the problem is the immediacy of publishing, even for dead tree newspapers. Formerly, a reporter would submit a story, it would go through an editor or three and the typesetter/copyeditor would look at the whole page. At any point in the process, corrections could be made. Yes, there were some spectacular mistakes and more plebeian omissions. Not everything would be caught, and mediocre language slipped through all too often... but at least there was a process, and one good editor could almost singlehandedly improve the literacy of a region. (My father was one such.)

Now, we have spell check for the most egregious mistakes, and the pressure to write quickly and publish in a timely fashion combined with budget cuts eliminating many of the layers. Papers make it easy for the reporter to dash off a story, it gets a cursory check, and out it goes.

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

COMMA, COMMA, COMMA --- so many things could be solved by the humble comma!!!!

"The second largest newspaper market, after China" -- simple.

But... it's like people are starting to think that punctuation doesn't matter.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

The phrasing has rubbed me sore enough that I still wince at it even with the comma included.

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah.

I was going to add that I think the punctuation problem is one symptom of the fact that the culture is moving toward becoming an oral one again. Literacy is declining -- in terms of mastery of the written forms and actually knowing much about the literary heritage.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Thinking further, I realized that a better phrasing would be: "the largest newspaper market after China," not the second largest with a comma.

[scribblerworks.livejournal.com]

Ha! You are SO right! Ah, the wonders of copy-editing! ;)