Grammar bully

A Facebook video yesterday showed a golfer at the Masters on a practice round skipping a ball across a water hazard. After three skips, the ball landed on the green, went uphill, made a small left turn and then down the slope and into the hole. A hole in one, but on a practice round. And, players are not allowed to skip balls across water hazards, except in practice.

What got my attention not as much as the shot, was the sports writer commenting on "hole-in-ones." I looked at that and then looked at it again. No. He didn't really write that. Well, yes, he did. You just look at it, and you say, "That's wrong." And, "How many grammar schools did the writer not go to not to learn that rule?"

That sort of thing is becoming more and more common as people who do not know grammar are allowed and paid big dollars to make mistakes. I have read of "state's attorney generals" and "Army sergeant majors." Another one that really gets me is "marshal law." 

Writers who do not know become editors who do not know, or care. The check don't bounce. (And many could not explain that term.) 

Old-time journalism had time-honored rules on grammar. After finding an error, an editor spoke to a writer, explaining what was wrong, why it was wrong and how to fix it. These days, an old-time journalist would be known as "that bully."