The new issue is here, online and ready for readers! Feel free to comment on his contents here.

No YouTube Mexican this week. You may recall Gustavo is on strike. To that, I say: Whatevs!

This article appears in Sep 4-10, 2008.

4 replies on “Yet Another Dose of ‘Weekly’ Delectables”

  1. Minor style questions:

    1. Why do the music writers insist on using some sort of British stylebook, treating corporate nouns as plurals? From the lede: “Dr. Dog are again on the road …” I could understand using the plural verb if the band’s name were The Dogs, but “Dr. Dog are” is just un-American. I remember from long experience correcting their copy that the music writers are also fond of such Britishisms as “amidst” and “amongst.” Would Lester Bangs have done that?

    2. I am driven nuts by the now common practice, here and elsewhere, of using “backyard” and “backseat” as nouns. Until the latest developments in semi-literacy, the “back yard” was where one might have a “backyard barbecue” (please, not BBQ), and the “back seat” was the position of the loathed “backseat driver.” I don’t see how the nouning of “backyard” and “backseat” can be justified unless we also write “frontyard” and “frontseat” as nouns. And that’s just sick and wrong.

  2. As for No. 2, James, blame the AP and Websters. AP says backyard is correct, but has no entry for backseat, which sends one to Webster’s, which has backseat as the correct word. As for No. 1, well, music writers are wacky!

  3. I never thought “amidst” or “amongst” were Britishisms, but who am I to know since I use these words as part of my writing? No editor I’ve seen has let “tricky wicket” get through to final copy, though.

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