I was caught being linguistically defective

The only reason I ever envied radio or TV reporters is that once they make a mistake in use of language it's almost always gone forever. Writers, however, can't be stupid in print because someone, somewhere, will find it and rub their noses in it.

This is what happened a few days ago when Jim Crowley read what I wrote about his son, Jack, last February. Jack had written a letter to the editor of the Dispatch about the price of gasoline and the fact that none of the Presidential candidates was addressing that problem. What he said is still true because neither of the candidates are going after the root of the problem which, in my opinion, are hedge funds and futures markets.

Anyway, you can still read his letter at the Dispatch web site at this address and you can still read what I said about it at this link.

If you look closely at the next-to-last paragraph you'll see a glaring misuse of the word "reign," which should have been "rein."

Jack's dad worked for the Warren Trib, and then for the Dispatch. "We all need copy editors," he said, and I say "amen, Jack." Further, I'll admit that I am amazed that I don't get caught in the act of being linguistically careless more often.