🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <9207282034.AA09794@nms.netman>
kartik@hls.com (Kartik Chandrasekhar) writes:
 
>
>To top it here is an example which appeared as a 3 inch headline in the
>San Jose Mercury News during the heady days of the Bush presidency.
>
>"Why Bush cannot be beat". (Instead of .... cannot be beaten).
>
>There is a lot of difference between the British or Indian Newspapers
>who use chaste English and the US newspapers who are careless and
>irresponsible. They have to realize  that it is through thier colomns
                                                         ^^^^^ ^^^^^^^
>that a language flourishes in todays world and they should not butcher
                               ^^^^^^
>the language. The editorial should also provide the everyday lesson in
                             ^^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^
>English to the people.
         ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> I am not trying to compare USA Vs UK or Vs India it is just that
> when my 1 1/2 year son grows up here and starts reading the newspapers
> he should get more out of it than just the news and the scores.
>
>In conclusion I would like to say that I will gladly accept any flaws
                                                                 ^^^^^
>or corrections in my argument.
    ^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> kartik
>
There is an irony here I shall not dwell on when a foreigner who cannot
spell 'their' or 'columns', who doesn't know how to represent possessives,
whose control of definiteness (and thus the article), tries to preach
"correct" English to native speakers!  He need not have told us that he
is ready to, "accept any flaws," in his argument.  Since his post is full
of flaws, we shall assume he accepts them, although we do not.  Perhaps
he, and others who propound "correct" English need to be reminded that
the should consult a good English grammar (say that of Sir Randolph Quirk)
and a good English dictionary (say the OED), before presuming to pontificate.
And of course, as is so commonly the case, his bugbear of a past participle
"beat" was English in England, long before it was used on the west of the
Atlantic.  (Please, everyone, do NOT plague the world with accusations of
American innovation until you check to see whether the item in question was
used in England before it was used in America -- this is sci.lang, not
alt.flame.usage).  One advantage natives, of whatever persuasion, have over
autocratic immigrants, is a trove of material learnt as infants, that is
commonly pan-English (check the Opies' wonderful compilations, inter alia.)
 
          Tom, Tom, the piper's son
          Stole a pig, and away he run.
          The pig was eat, and Tom was beat....