Morning Quiche

As usual, I won’t have enough time to make sure what I’m saying is coherent as I fumble out a morning post, so bear with me.

Problems with the press. This may as well just become an everyday item. Today’s problem is word choice, which as you can imagine I see as a rather big problem for the press. One issue is the word “slam”. If you go to Google News and search for “slams”, you’ll see the following hits, among others: “Man slams into stopped police patrol car”, and “Indians prospect slams three homers”. I have no problem with these. “Slam” should be a physical occurrence. Even “Thyphoon Nuri slams into Philippines” works just fine. What I have a problem with is “McCain slams Obama” and “Russia slams missile pact”. Definitions of “slam” on the interweb include “the noise made by the forceful impact of two objects”, “a forceful impact that makes a loud noise”, and “when a wrestler throws their opponent to the mat with unwarranted force without going to the mat themselves”. I guess they should add “a lazy, uncreative way for journalists to describe an emotional verbal response” to the list.

A NY Daily News piece that’s covering Mark Spitz’ claim that he could beat Michael Phelps informs the reader that Phelps “shattered” Spitz’ gold medal record by winning eight in Beijing. Spitz won seven. One medal is hardly a shattering. Let’s reserve the use for words with strong meanings for situations that are warranted so that they don’t lose their effectiveness. The English language thanks you.

One collection of words that I particularly enjoyed was a quote from Mike Bloomberg, who was sharing his vision of implanting windmills all over New York City: "It would be a thing of beauty if when Lady Liberty looks out on the horizon, she not only welcomes new immigrants to our shores but lights their way with a torch powered by an ocean wind farm.”

Matt J beat me to TMQ this week, but I will nonetheless predictably endorse your reading it. A convenient link for our extensive readership.

Also in the news in the past few days: the Patriots signed John Lynch, and fans react accordingly.