Shoving her way through the hoard of reporters, Karen Hiller found her way to [Ron] Paul’s SUV and demanded he come back to the restaurant and meet the voters he would be facing at the ballot box on Tuesday.
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Since you're on a little kick with the journalists, I thought I'd run one by you to see what you thought. It's from the prestigious Wall Street Journal:
ReplyDelete'One of the few lesser-knowns who have been able to challenge one of the more visible competitors is perennial candidate Vermin Supreme of Rockport, Mass. Mr. Supreme—whose nom de guerre appears on his driver's license—is a Democrat running on a platform of zombie preparedness, mandatory tooth-brushing and the promise of a pony for every American. His campaign consists of confronting front-runners on the trail to "call attention to the absurdity of the process," he said.'
That's an entire paragraph just for kicks, but what I really want to focus on is the use of "nom de guerre." Now, a nom de guerre is a pseudonym, right? But the article goes on to say that it appears on his driver's license. Correct me if I'm wrong (since it's been a while since I've been in the States), but aren't you required to have your legal name on your driver's license? If so, "Vermin Supreme" is this dude's legal name, not a nom de guerre.
What do you think? Am I correct in thinking that Ms. Williamson just wanted to use a fancy French term and ended up dropping the ball?
It occurs to me that the problem here is not the journalists, it is the complete lack of responsible editing. I'm not saying journalists need not know the difference between homonyms, but ultimately it's the editor's job to catch gaffes like this.
ReplyDelete"It occurs to me that the problem here is not the journalists, it is the complete lack of responsible editing. I'm not saying journalists need not know the difference between homonyms, but ultimately it's the editor's job to catch gaffes like this."
ReplyDeletePerhaps journalists are members of School B.
As for the nom de guerre issue-- I'd have to look up whether one's real, legal name must appear on a driver's license, but I'd surmise the answer to that question is "yes, decidedly." But some have noted how easy it is to obtain all sorts of crazy-ass ID cards. Someone in the Occupy movement apparently got one (don't know whether it was a driver's license or something else) simply by listing one boundary-defining intersection of the park he was occupying as his legal residence. This was in the news a couple months ago. Might be fictitious.
I think the Occupier had gotten a voter registration card. Will check.
ReplyDeleteI'm more confused by this: "meet the voters he would be facing at the ballot box on Tuesday."
ReplyDeleteJohn,
ReplyDeleteThat construction is pretty sloppy, isn't it. If I were to interpret it charitably, I'd say the locution probably means that Hiller wanted Paul to meet the people who might potentially vote for him at the primary on Tuesday. "Facing at the ballot box," then, doesn't mean he'd be literally, physically facing these voters; it means they'll be encountering his name on the ballots, and that encounter is tantamount to Paul's "facing" the electorate.
Still, the writer could have expressed that thought more clearly. The more I think about it, the more I agree with you that that's a confusing construction.
Possible rewrite:
"Shoving her way through the [horde] of reporters, Karen Hiller found her way to [Ron] Paul’s SUV and demanded he come back to the restaurant to meet the voters who might support him on Tuesday."
Argh. Did I do that thing again where I previewed my comment and then forgot to post it? Crap.
ReplyDeleteUpshot: the Real ID Act of 2005 requires you to have your full legal name on your driver's license.
Plus some comments about School A versus School B that I don't feel like retyping at the moment, except to say that I agree with you in principle, but also think that editors need to do their jobs.
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Word Verification fun!
scone... hey, wait, that's a real word!