Happy Diwali, dear reader.

It is not unusual for me to read multiple published, allegedly edited, and definitely paid-for articles every day with basic grammatical and usage errors so egregious as to keep them from passing my most basic ESL composition class.  Which is depressing, but not quite as depressing as the fact that no one apparently notices.  Editorial in-boxes are not being flooded with vociferous complaints demanding better.  Nobody gives a shit.  The errors that I read are the same I hear made constantly by the herd who have no natural ear for the music of the language and learned their bastardized verbal perversions from inordinately-assed Armenians on reality TV.  Reading the same errors in news articles confirms their erroneous notions of grammatical competence (of course I am giving the herd rather a lot of credit here, assuming they spend any part of their vapid days actually reading anything).  It’s enough to drive a linguistically sensitive guy like me to drink.  Incidentally, it’s about time for a new desk whiskey.  Jack Fire can be quite nice this time of year, with its icy nights.

N.P.: “Empty Room” – Prince