What’s His Name?
continued from page 5 readers with puzzles more befitting the type of intellectual prowess that Humboldt County seems to have a plethora of. Let’s eat cake, shall we? p.s. I am currently setting up a research project to measure the relationship between the level of difficulty in your weekly Sudoku puzzle and the educational value and content of the Journal on a week to week basis. I am already finding some really interesting inverse correlations. Travis Turner, Samoa
Watch Your Words
Editor: I admire Emily Carlson’s willingness to speak up (“Don’t Be Transphobic,” Mailbox, March 14). My only disagreement with her letter is the line that goes “in a journal that totes itself.” Totes? Carries itself around? Impersonates a carrying bag? I believe the word needed was touts. Webster defines “tout” as “to publicize aggressively.” This brings me to my other objection to the writing in the North Coast Journal: writers who are not accurate in their use of words. A case in point is the recent article about young people going through a “right of passage,” by being on their mission here. Writer, ask yourself: If they didn’t go on a “right of passage,” would it have been a “wrong of passage?” A “left of passage?” I suspect they really go through a “rite of passage,” which Webster defines as “a ceremonial act or procedure customary in religious or
other solemn use.” Repeatedly the NCJ has printed that someone “pulls on the reigns.” Can you, by using your hands, draw to a slower speed the tenures of a few rulers of countries, the way you can slow a horse with the leather straps attached to a horse’s bridle? Spell check isn’t going to help. You have to understand the concept. I think we are losing the power of our own language by misusing it. Yes, a reader might be able to gloss over the mistaken use of a word, and understand the thing meant. But a writer should not rely on that gloss; a writer should be precise. Say what you mean. Capture my interest with your thoroughness, with your understanding of both your subject and your use of this language. Pat Dillman, Bayside
Correction
In “Picketing for Help” (March 21), the Journal incorrectly identified the party trying to recruit another nephrologist to the Humboldt region. The recruiting is being done by Dr. Allen Mathew of Redwood Renal Associates, but not by St. Joseph Hospital.
Write a letter! Please try to make your letter no more than 300 words and include your full name, place of residence and phone number (we won’t print your number). Send it to letters@northcoastjournal.com l
Hey, man, how ya doing? (What’s his name?) Fine, fine. Was just thinking of one of my favorite reporters. Yeah, you know, uh, uh, You know. Little guy. Ran the local news desk. We thought he sounded like that Italian TV detective. You know, uh, you know? Little guy, with an Italian name. Played by that actor, uh, you know. Always wore a trench coat. Yeah, the reporter sounded just like him. Yeah, his desk was next to the day editor. Big guy, from Texas, with a high-pitched voice. He was married to that great Justice Department reporter. You know, uh, can’t think of her name. (Who is this guy I’m talking to? Pentagon reporter, flew a plane, played mandolin. His father was agriculture reporter.) Hey, good to see you again. Gotta go. And thanks for the memories. — Dave Rosso
northcoastjournal.com • North Coast Journal • Thursday, March 28, 2013
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