# SDMB quoted in The Boston Globe! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 27, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798 "2011-02-27T15:32:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/1 "2011-02-27T15:32:10Z")
Page **K2** , the _Ideas_ section of the Sunday, Feb. 27 2011 edition of _The Boston Globe_, in Jan Freeman’s column _The Word_ > [@](#): > > Even the Midwestern “the car needs washed,” well known from Pittsburgh westward, can still inspire word rage, even as its native users spread it throughout the 50 states. “It is WRONG, in that it misuses the speech parts. It is WRONG in that it is incorrect English grammar,” declaimed a (minority) commenter at [StraightDope.com](http://StraightDope.com). 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. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/2 "2011-02-27T15:36:02Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/3 "2011-02-27T15:49:56Z")
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 > [@](#): > > “It is WRONG, in that it misuses the speech parts. It is WRONG in that it is incorrect English grammar,” 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. ---
**Author:** ![Alienhand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8edcca/32.png) [@Alienhand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alienhand)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/4 "2011-02-27T16:13:00Z")
[column](http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2011/02/27/the_devil_strip/) (quote on pg. 2) [post quoted](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=10175012&postcount=24). It’s an accurate quote and, I think, a fair one. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/5 "2011-02-27T16:31:01Z")
The SD was Friday quoted in the [Toronto Star](http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/944823--newsmangled-gadhafi-a-tyrant-no-matter-how-you-spell-it). The topic? How to spell Gadhafi’s name. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/6 "2011-02-27T20:07:44Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > The SD was Friday quoted in the [Toronto Star](http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/article/944823--newsmangled-gadhafi-a-tyrant-no-matter-how-you-spell-it). The topic? How to spell Gadhafi’s name. 🙂 At home, I just call him Duckbreath, and Airman knows exactly who I mean. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/7 "2011-02-27T20:15:22Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/8 "2011-02-27T20:20:27Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![dhkendall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a9adbd/32.png) [@dhkendall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dhkendall)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/9 "2011-02-27T21:59:56Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > My question: Are we being quoted accurately, or is this columnist reconstructing from memory? 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. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2011, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/10 "2011-02-27T22:03:33Z")
> [@dhkendall](#): > > Rule 1: never trust a journalist. This was no ordinary journalist. She’s a top-flight linguist, then a journalist. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/11 "2011-02-28T00:11:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Rule 1: never trust 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** ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2011, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-quoted-in-the-boston-globe/572798/12 "2011-02-28T00:51:09Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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. 😛