Author Topic: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead  (Read 2780 times)

Hawkmoon

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Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« on: January 14, 2019, 12:18:48 PM »
Along with the English language.

https://grammarist.com/usage/rack-wrack/

The subject is the burning down of the American Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Connecticut. (I remember attending performances of Shakespeare there when I was in high school.)  In the article, they quote a resident as having said, "“It was a wonderful facility and it’s just so devastating that the state and then the town let it go to rack and ruin,” Guggenheim said. “Hopefully they’ll preserve it as a park.”

Neither the purported journalist not the editor who should have reviewed the article picked up on the use of thr wrong word in the expression. It should have been "wrack."

https://grammarist.com/usage/rack-wrack/
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Brad Johnson

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2019, 12:30:30 PM »
Well, learn something new every day. That's a phrase I've never heard.

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Perd Hapley

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2019, 12:59:38 PM »
Fifty nerd points for thee, Hawkmoon. I would not have spotted that.
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Fly320s

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2019, 01:11:38 PM »
Fifty nerd points for thee, Hawkmoon. I would not have spotted that.


Same here.  I may have wondered what "rack and ruin" means, and I still do, but I would not catch the error.
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Ben

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2019, 01:22:15 PM »
I'm more into wrath and ruin myself.

https://youtu.be/kzvAAAHVFBI?t=63
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2019, 02:21:14 PM »
Fifty nerd points for thee, Hawkmoon. I would not have spotted that.


Thank you, Sir.

It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.  :police:
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230RN

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #6 on: January 14, 2019, 02:29:40 PM »
I was getting ready to correct it as "wrack and wruin."

Perd Hapley

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #7 on: January 14, 2019, 03:33:26 PM »
Thank you, Sir.

It's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it.  :police:

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MechAg94

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #8 on: January 14, 2019, 03:47:13 PM »
That is a phrase I think I have heard or read, but never used.  Might have to fit it in somehow.
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #9 on: January 14, 2019, 03:56:50 PM »
Gotta? Turn in your badge

Literary license.

This does, however, bring to mind another foible of today's so-called "journalists": They use trash language when quoting serious speakers. Someone may, for example, say in a speech, "I'm going to change the world!" Almost without fail, it will be reported as, "I'm gonna change the world!"
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dm1333

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #10 on: January 14, 2019, 05:10:11 PM »
I beg to differ!  I grew up not too far from there and spent a lot of time on the Housatonic River right near there.

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wrack+and+ruin

Hawkmoon

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #11 on: January 14, 2019, 09:31:20 PM »
I beg to differ!  I grew up not too far from there and spent a lot of time on the Housatonic River right near there.

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wrack+and+ruin

This is why you'll not find me citing the Free Dictionary. It's worthless. Instead of discussing the fact that "rack and ruin" is an incorrect usage -- they perpetuate it and equate it fully with the correct usage.

Thus endeth the English language. R.I.P.
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TommyGunn

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #12 on: January 14, 2019, 11:24:16 PM »
Along with the English language.

https://grammarist.com/usage/rack-wrack/

The subject is the burning down of the American Shakespeare Theater in Stratford, Connecticut. (I remember attending performances of Shakespeare there when I was in high school.)  In the article, they quote a resident as having said, "“It was a wonderful facility and it’s just so devastating that the state and then the town let it go to rack and ruin,” Guggenheim said. “Hopefully they’ll preserve it as a park.”

Neither the purported journalist not the editor who should have reviewed the article picked up on the use of thr wrong word in the expression. It should have been "wrack."

https://grammarist.com/usage/rack-wrack/


I used to live in Connecticut and have seen several plays at that theater!  When did it burn down?   Sad!
Next someone will tell me the Westport Country Playhouse burned down!!!  

That proper English is dead is not news.  Methinks thou dost protest too much ......
MOLON LABE   "Through ignorance of what is good and what is bad, the life of men is greatly perplexed." ~~ Cicero

Hawkmoon

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #13 on: January 15, 2019, 03:44:46 AM »

That proper English is dead is not news.  Methinks thou dost protest too much ......

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune journalism
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles functional illiterates
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream be finally rid of the pox of illiterate "journalists": ay, there's the rub,
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dogmush

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #14 on: January 15, 2019, 05:12:21 AM »
This is why you'll not find me citing the Free Dictionary. It's worthless. Instead of discussing the fact that "rack and ruin" is an incorrect usage -- they perpetuate it and equate it fully with the correct usage.

Thus endeth the English language. R.I.P.
It seems as if both spellings are accepted by the authorities on the subject.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/rack-vs-wrack

Perhaps next thread we can discuss the proper use of pedant.

Hawkmoon

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #15 on: January 15, 2019, 05:16:50 AM »
It seems as if both spellings are accepted by the authorities on the subject.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/rack-vs-wrack

Perhaps next thread we can discuss the proper use of pedant.


A luke-warm acceptance, at best. Your citation concludes with the following:

Quote
If you choose to toe the line drawn by the commentators, however, you will want to write nerve-racking, rack one’s brains, storm-wracked, and for good measure wrack and ruin. Then you will have nothing to worry about being criticized for—except, of course, for using too many clichés.

So I'm a line toer. I can live with that.
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230RN

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #16 on: January 15, 2019, 05:26:08 AM »
(1)
https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/wrack+and+ruin
Quote
"Rack" here is a variant spelling of "wrack," a now-archaic word meaning wreckage or destruction. Used especially in the phrase "go to rack and ruin."

OK, so "rack" is a variant spelling of "wrack," like "gage" is a variant spelling of "gauge."

(2)
Is it legitimate to say "to wreak wrack and ruin"?

(3)
Quote
Someone may, for example, say in a speech, "I'm going to change the world!" Almost without fail, it will be reported as, "I'm gonna change the world!"

The speaker may well have actually said "gonna."

I like to  use "gonna," "gotta," "wanna" and the like merely as stylistic mannerisms, but certainly not in formal writing.


Hawkmoon

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #17 on: January 15, 2019, 05:32:50 AM »
(3)
The speaker may well have actually said "gonna."

I like to  use "gonna," "gotta," "wanna" and the like merely as stylistic mannerisms, but certainly not in formal writing.

They may. But I have listened to speeches where the speaker said "going to" and it was reported as "gonna."
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dm1333

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #18 on: January 15, 2019, 06:03:01 AM »
It seems as if both spellings are accepted by the authorities on the subject.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/rack-vs-wrack

Perhaps next thread we can discuss the proper use of pedant.


Bazinga!

RoadKingLarry

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #19 on: January 15, 2019, 06:25:53 AM »
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.

Samuel Adams

TommyGunn

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #20 on: January 15, 2019, 11:42:26 AM »
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune journalism
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles functional illiterates
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream be finally rid of the pox of illiterate "journalists": ay, there's the rub,


THREADWIN!!!!! =D
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230RN

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #21 on: January 15, 2019, 11:55:53 AM »
I think a lot of folks forget that English is a flexible language and constantly changing, even with respect to old words, let alone new ones.  Nevertheless, it is good that we pedants stick to our gonnes.

Ron

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #22 on: January 15, 2019, 12:21:35 PM »
I think a lot of folks forget that English is a flexible language and constantly changing, even with respect to old words ...

Some words now mean the opposite of former definitions.

Words like good, true, beautiful and evil.

For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity, that they may be without excuse. Because knowing God, they didn’t glorify him as God, and didn’t give thanks, but became vain in their reasoning, and their senseless heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.

HeroHog

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #23 on: January 15, 2019, 12:50:06 PM »
"Gonna" doesn't bug me in common speech.
"Fittinta" (fixing to) drives me up a wall!
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Hawkmoon

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Re: Sigh - more proof that journalism is dead
« Reply #24 on: January 15, 2019, 01:41:11 PM »

"Fittinta" (fixing to) drives me up a wall!

I haven't encountered that one yet. Sounds like a name for a new drink made with Tequila.
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