How now, grammar critic?

JUNE CASAGRANDE

Ladies and gentlemen: I don’t want to alarm you, but somewhere out

there, lurking in your community, is a man who’s been fiendishly

clutching this letter for more than 12 years:

July 18, 1991

Dear Mr. (Name Omitted)

Thanks for the letter about the grammatical errors in the article

about women in combat. You are right, of course, and we deserve to be

embarrassed. Such errors are usually a result of haste, not

ignorance, but that does not excuse them.

I hope we won’t soon give you a similar reason to write again.

Best regards,

William Borders

Senior Editor

New York Times

Mr. Name Omitted, let’s call him Mr. No for short, brandished this

letter at me in response to a recent column in which I said that some

grammar-obsessed people are a little scary. I’d thank him for proving

my point, but I don’t think that was his intention.

In my column, I had mentioned that a colleague received a rather

harsh note from a reader for writing “peaked” instead of “piqued.”

Mr. No forwarded to me a color photocopy of his triumphant New York

Times letter with a typewritten Post-it note on the bottom that said,

“This is now a real journalist deals with ‘scary’ letters.” Please

note that he did not write, “This is HOW,” He wrote, “This is NOW.”

Where to start? By mentioning how devastating it is for a Daily

Pilot reporter to learn that she doesn’t measure up to a senior

editor at the New York Times? By mentioning that Mr. No has no idea

whether I, too, reply personally to readers who point out grammar

mistakes? (He may know how a real journalist handles these

situations, but I never mentioned what I do. Heck, I’m not even an

editor here.) Do I bask in the irony of Mr. No’s own typo or even

marvel at the fact that the Post-it note was typewritten? (How do you

get that little pad into the typewriter?)

My first impulse, and the one I couldn’t resist, was to track down

Borders. Lo and behold, he’s still at the New York Times (just as you

can trust that all the Daily Pilot reporters will be here 12 years

from now). I had just one question in mind, and I was sure I knew the

answer. I read to Borders the letter he himself had written and

asked, “Would you still do that today?”

Fully expecting to hear a snort and a comment that such personal

replies are no longer possible during a busy day of running an

internationally renowned newspaper, I instead got a lesson in

journalism I wasn’t expecting:

“If they were right, if we really did make a mistake, yes, I’d

still write back,” Borders said.

Well, he may be fit to help run the most respected newspaper in

the world, but he’d never survive in a beat reporting job at the

Daily Pilot with that attitude.

While I’m not the best at apologizing for mistakes, I am always

eager to learn from them. In that spirit, I’ll share with you a

couple that have cropped up in our newspapers recently.

One headline had the word “sorted” instead of “sordid.” This is a

good example of a mistake made out of haste, not ignorance. I’m sure

that the writer, editor or both knew the difference but just failed

to see the error in time. “Sordid,” of course, means “dirty,”

“filthy” or “ignoble.” Think, “I sorted my sordid laundry.”

A Sept. 11 Daily Pilot headline read, “Remembering those that fell

two years ago.” As a reader pointed out, “that” should’ve been “who,”

because it refers to people and not objects.

In some City Hall documents the other day I ran across another

mistake often made in haste: “ ... the City Council could wave its

policy ... .” I have an image of Newport Beach Mayor Steve Bromberg

in a Miss America sash. I’ll stop there, before I make any

regrettable references to the swimsuit competition, and remind you

that a council would “waive” a policy or requirement, perhaps by

signing a waiver.

For those of you who tune in for more advanced tips, a colleague

reminded me that people often confuse the verbs “founder” and

“flounder.” To flounder is to flop or jerk about like a fish on land.

To founder is to weigh down, cripple or sink, as in, “This column

foundered after the author crossed the line and got too sassy with

the mayor, the New York Times and especially with Mr. No.”

* JUNE CASAGRANDE covers Newport Beach and John Wayne Airport. She

may be reached at (949) 574-4232 or by e-mail at

june.casagrande@latimes.com.