Ned has one further outrage with which to regale his many followers. It has come to his attention that a certain herd mentality is operating with the widespread use of the irritating word "scrambling." It has become the darling of NYT reporters, among other things to refer to any condition in response to which people have to do more than just scratch some nether part of their anatomy: to wit; "Officials were scrambling to determine the source of an escaped moose on the San Diego Freeway today." Or, "Obama officials were scrambling today to respond to Republican charges that they were trying to force widows and orphans out of homeless shelters."
Ned pleads with his friends to avoid the use of 'scrambling' in any context except to refer to a common method used to prepare a product of an anal cavity of a barnyard fowl.
UPDATE: SUNDAY, AUG. 29: THE NYT INFORMS US THAT 'Pakistanis are SCRAMBLING to avoid floodwaters in the south of Pakistan.'
Ned can only grind his teeth in impotent rage.
We think you will need to start a separate page and start a running collection of such words and phrases. We wrote about our annoyance and people making up words, e.g. "conversating", some time ago.
ReplyDeleteNed, as always, takes Misterjimmy's suggestions with the greatest gravity and profoundest gratitude.
ReplyDeleteSign me off on misterjimmiy's comment as well.
ReplyDeleteOops! I was scrambling to meet a deadline, so I spelled "misterjimmy" incorrectly. My bad!
ReplyDelete