8 May 2005
A concession to good language
I am always disappointed when the unstoppable evolution of the English language moves on through bad usage rather than clever invention.
My current beef is with journalists who, looking for a different verb that describes how someone says something, use concede as a synonym for say. In an article on “male menopause” in yesterday’s Weekend Australian Magazine, Guy Allenby uses concedes twice: once correctly, and once as a misleading synonym for says.
This is the latest example of one particular poor usage that is becoming more common. In striving to be inventive, Allenby is actually making the opposite kind of contribution to the language.
Sadly, it is further evidence for the case that journalists are very poor at what they do. Talented people are always skilled at using their tools, and journalists frequently claim that words are their tools, so basically they are crap at what they do. Further, as each one lowers the standard, and it becomes accepted by their peers, the quality of their work further declines. Let us face it, many of the blogs on the net are written better than many papers, and are more factual.