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NYT Bans the Word 'Tweet,' LBW Bans the Word 'Glee'
The Awl reports that Phil Corbett, The New York Times' "standards editor," issued a memorandum yesterday attempting to ban NYT writers' use of the word "tweet." For those of you who have just emerged from a 12-month-long trial, "tweet" has become a popular term to describe the act of posting something on Twitter.
In his memo, Corbett half-jokes that "outside of ornithological
contexts, 'tweet' has not yet achieved the status of standard English," which is apparently what the NYT likes to use. He adds that "tweet" is a rare, triple-threat word that manages to be a colloquialism, neologism
and jargon simultaneously -- three more things that the NYT doesn't like.
As the standards editor* for Legal Blog Watch, I, too, would like to ban a word, if only to keep up with the NYT. It is important that the word I ban be used regularly by my co-author, Eric Lipman, but not by me, so that the disruption caused by the ban affects Eric only. After careful consideration, I hereby issue an immediate ban of the word "glee," as there is no reason Eric should have this in his active vocabulary as a synonym for "happy," and absolutely no reason Eric should ever write again about the TV show -- "extenuating circumstances" or not.
*Bruce Carton may not technically be the standards editor for Legal Blog Watch on the formal, nonexistent LBW org chart. He is, however, a highly respected fake judge.
Posted by Bruce Carton on June 10, 2010 at 12:23 PM | Permalink
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