Admittedly, I have not read every article in your paper this week. Actually I have only read two so far. I also understand typos are going to occur and I can overlook those OK. What I do have a bit more trouble overlooking are verbal faux pas in the form of misused words.
The most obvious was the headline: “McCarty wins tax flop, Maxwell folds.” Didn’t you mean to say: “McCarty wins tax flap, Maxwell folds”? My wife and I usually have two or three flaps a week, which we usually settle fairly quickly, but we only flop into bed after a particularly exhausting day of keeping our 2-year-old granddaughter.
The second verbal misuse is in Carolyn Cary’s article. She states that Dr. Crawford Long “came up with either.”
My guess is that if he came with “either,” he probably also came up with “or,” but as far as I know he wasn’t a grammarian. Of course, as a doctor, he really came up with neither, because what he came up with was “ether” — an early anesthetic.
From one wordsmith to another, I Just thought I would try to inject a bit of humor into your day, especially since its a very slow day at work. Happy Thanksgiving!
Tom May
Fayetteville, Ga.
[The editor attempts to explain: “Either” the headline — misunderstood by many — was a feeble attempt at a pun referencing a dramatic moment in Texas Hold’em poker (thus the following “fold” by Mr. Maxwell, meaning he tossed in his cards and left the game), or the too-glib editor was himself too benumbed by pre-holiday “ether” to realize that not everybody gets poker terminology. The editor apologizes for the “flap” over a “flop” of a headline.]
