The Saint Paul Pioneer Press has a daily feature,
called "The Bulletin Board." It's sort of like The DU Lounge, in that it's a place for readers of that paper to weigh in on off-topic things, or even on on-topic things. It's probably the most popular part of the paper. Also like DU, contributors to it use pseudonyms to sign their contributions. Here's one I sent last week, that appeared in today's edition:
Homophonia?
In a recent Pioneer Press story about the New York subway tragedy, I learned that "the train slammed on its breaks." Once again, I'm reminded that a combination of shrinking newspaper budgets and too much reliance on computer spelling checkers has increased the incidence of homophone substitution in the media.
A call for newspaper writers to make a second proofreading pass through their articles might seem to be in order, but I doubt it will eliminate these common errors. It is the English language that is really at fault, since homophones abound in it, and will always plague writers on tight deadlines.
Sew, fore those spelling-sensitive former English majors who wood cry out, "Here! Here!" too demands four better copy editing, I can only say, "They're there."
-CA Transplant