Page K2, the Ideas section of the Sunday, Feb. 27 2011 edition of The Boston Globe, in Jan Freeman’s column The Word
I seem to recall that it was still localism (which is what Freeman, the local word maven, was writing a column about), rather than “from Pittsburgh westward.” But at least they spelled our name right.
In other Globe news this morning, another article from the same edition was by someone I met and talked with at length at a party last night.
I like how they explicitly mention that the comment they quote is a minority view. Can’t have people thinking we’re all a bunch of stinking prescriptivists around here.
My question: Are we being quoted accurately, or is this columnist reconstructing from memory? I’ve been searching for this entry using the SDMB search function and external search engines, and haven’t come up with a discussion on this topic in which someone says
I don’t recall this one coming up, and the threads I’ve found don’t contain these sentences, and don’t sound as irritate about it.
column (quote on pg. 2)
post quoted. It’s an accurate quote and, I think, a fair one.
The SD was Friday quoted in the Toronto Star. The topic? How to spell Gadhafi’s name. 
At home, I just call him Duckbreath, and Airman knows exactly who I mean.
I’m now starting to conflate him with Michael Jackson. This does nobody any good.
Hey, maybe Moamar has some of Michael’s parts stuck on!
The post from the OP was from 2008? Wow, really on top of that, newsmedia! I guess they’re doing better - they seem to have figured out that the internet exists now. Good show, old chaps!
Not having checked, I’ll say probably not. I, or people that I know, have been interviewed by the media several times and not once have our words been quoted accurately, or had our true meaning accurately portrayed.
Rule 1: never trust a journalist.
This was no ordinary journalist. She’s a top-flight linguist, then a journalist.
In this case, as Alienhand has located the original quote, it does seem that they got it right.
But your warning is appropriate. As I have related before, one time a local journalist interviewed the rofessors at our relatively small department. One of them, new to academia ( and publicity) made an off-hand wiiticism. He was appalled to find that they used it as the headline :
Twelve Guys Out to Save the Universe
That is a damned good headline, though! I’d read whatever followed it. 