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**dibl** · Apr 12, 2018, 04:11 AM

Being an NPR devotee, I feel your pain, Woody. But the problem extends to journalists and "announcers" in general, and it's not just grammar. A year or so ago, there was quite a to-do about "wire tapping" and "tapes". It was all started by the Tweeter In Chief, and I found it incredible that supposedly educated journalists and their analyst and anchor buddies all repeated the "tapes" terminology. For several weeks it was tapes, tapes, tapes. I finally got mad and wrote a paragraph on my Facebook page about the stupidity of people using that terminology in the year 2017. Instead of imitating the behavior of lemmings, they could have taken the opportunity to point out how anachronistic the originating tweet was, and how easy it is with current technology, i.e. anyone with a cell phone, to make (and reproduce) a digital recording. But no ... it was just tapes, tapes, tapes.

When I was growing up, correct use of language was emphasized by my elders, and stated to be an important characteristic of a well-educated person.

Not so much anymore, I guess.

**wartnose** · Apr 12, 2018, 05:12 AM

Is laid transitive or intransitive?

**wizard10000** · Apr 12, 2018, 05:43 AM

I'm not a grammar Nazi, really - but I do make assumptions about a person based on their spoken or written language. I heard on teh intrawebz maybe twenty years ago "If you don't care what you write why should I read it?".

I've echoed that sentiment many times myself.

**TWPonKubuntu** · Apr 12, 2018, 08:45 AM

Originally posted by wizard10000 View Post

..."If you don't care what you write why should I read it?".
...

Sound advice, but few will follow when it is written (not in stone but on the net) that words are weapons and if you throw enough words, you will hit something or someone. Hence the barrage of rhetoric from the media.

woodsmoke, I feel your pain and I also gave up the NPR pap a couple of decades ago. "The Prairie Home Companion" was getting a little too saccharine for my tastes. "Soylent Green Is People!" Care for a cracker with your Red Blank?

**GreyGeek** · Apr 12, 2018, 08:51 AM

Originally posted by wartnose View Post

Is laid transitive or intransitive?

Until you supply a context you cannot say. Is there a receiver for the action of the verb? If so, it’s transitive, otherwise it’s intransitive.

**GreyGeek** · Apr 12, 2018, 09:23 AM

Originally posted by TWPonKubuntu View Post

Sound advice, but few will follow when it is written (not in stone but on the net) that words are weapons and if you throw enough words, you will hit something or someone. Hence the barrage of rhetoric from the media.

woodsmoke, I feel your pain and I also gave up the NPR pap a couple of decades ago. "The Prairie Home Companion" was getting a little too saccharine for my tastes. "Soylent Green Is People!" Care for a cracker with your Red Blank?

I, too, was a regular NPR listener and my wife and I enjoyed “Prairie Home Companion” for years. UNTIL the Internet allowed me to easily check original sources and compare what they reported to what the sources said or didn’t say.
In college during the early 60’s a Civics Class was a requirement. We were required to give reports on articles in the major news sources of the day, the premier source being the NYT. That class led to a long period of newspaper and news mag reading as a source of political and social information. During the 80’s TV (air and cable) began replacing print as the primary news source. That was problematic. I could always clip and article or save the entire paper. Doing so with TV news was, at the time, not so easy.

Part of my business in the early 80’s was installing satellite dishes in rural areas where cable never went. I always used the ABC news feed on the Westar4 transponder satellite. While doing an installation I had my 12” portable color TV playing to check reception and signal strength. I heard “Hail to the Chief” and saw Raegan walk into the stage at a NOW convention. He received a standing ovation for 5-10 minutes. He punctuated his speech with about dozen jokes. He often used humor to make his point. Laughter greeted every joke except one. He finished his speech and left the stage, receiving another 5 minute standing ovation. That was what the live feed showed, uninterrupted and no commercials. Then, the feed showed Harry Reasoner and Max Rynolds talking back and forth about how to present the story. I was thunderstruck. It was the first time I saw “reporters” discussing how to slant the story. When the ABC news began that evening the lead was “Reagen gets a mixed reception at NOW”, and the story immediately launched a 1:47 clip of Elenor Schmeel claiming that Raegan would drag women back to the Stone Age by their hair”.
[emoji15]
It took a couple of years for the MNM to realize that folks in rural areas were watching their news feeds to get the real story, not their nightly news presenting biased propaganda. When the did realize it they encrypted their feed. Satellite users bought decryption chips. So the MNM bought legislation that made using decryption hardware illegal to import, make, sell or buy.

Too late. Rural America, and most folks over 55, became and have remained Conservative every since. Now you know the rest of the story. (Remember where that line came from?).

**woodsmoke** · Apr 15, 2018, 01:30 AM

LOL

I just LOVE a forum run by the likes of GG and et. al.

the threads kind of stay on topic and then just veer off...

soon to return!!

loove the replies folks!!

woodlovesitsmoke

Announcement

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NPR ... going to.... TCM red blank

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