Who writes this stuff?

And what the hell kind of college did they go to?

I read our local newspaper online every day. And I'm constantly amazed (and more than a little dismayed) by some of the stuff that's supposed to have been written by "journalists". (cough)

Case in point: "An unrestrained (insert name) was found in a heap on the dashboard."

Uh. "...found in a heap on the dashboard"? It must've been an awfully small person. A midget, maybe? And no...they weren't talking about a child. It was an adult.

And I don't know how many times I've read that someone's car window was "busted" out. I'm big busted, but I've never seen a car window that was. I have, however, had one "broken". Not my bust. A window.

I'd be willing to bet that I could find a good amount of grammatical mistakes in every, single edition of the PJStar. I might be nitpicking, but I notice little things like that. And it bugs the hell out of me. Especially in a newspaper.

Sadly, for many Americans the local newspaper is their only reading material. It's no wonder that we're "dumbing down".

Now on Lolly, I write in the vernacular. But Lolly's not a newspaper. I write like I speak casually. Yea, I say "ain't" sometimes. I don't use proper English sometimes. But I DO know the difference. I DO know when and how to speak and write properly. I DO know the difference between personal writing and professional journalism.

Believe it or not, I used to be a journalist at a small weekly newspaper. I didn't have any credentials. Just a love of the English language and all it's quirks. Hell, I didn't even have a college education at the time, let alone a journalism degree. But I was evidently good enough to hold the job for several years. I'd probably still be there except for the fact that I had an editor that was far more nitpicky than I.

"Little Hitler" was quite the stickler (oooo...I made a poem!) about grammar and punctuation. She was anal about stuff like that (though not necessarily about her personal hygiene), but I learned a lot from her. I also learned to say, "I quit." after one too many brow-beatings from her. But I digress.

The whole point of this particular little rant is that journalists influence, good OR bad. They're supposed to be unbiased, honest and correct.

Just the facts, ma'am...write it and, fer gawd's sake, spell it correctly.