When the Guardian is suspected of using words carelessly,we attract the ire of readers. Here are three recent examplesIn The God of Small Things, Arundhati Roy wrote: “That’s what careless words conclude. They make people love you a little less.” That is a view shared by many Guardian readers. A doctor writes: “I wonder whether you could give some thought to what I consider to be the lazy spend of the term ‘battle with’. I own noticed recently that anyone who has any sort of illness cannot ‘own it’ or ‘endure it’, and they always own to ‘battle with’ it. At this level it seems to be much the same,as no one in ‘journo land’ can promise or say they will conclude something – they always own to vow and they cannot ever be upset or wrathful but are always in a fury.My specific complaint is about Saturday’s [6 June] page 2 tale about Charles Kennedy. Now I loved him as well as any Guardian reader, and I am sure he did ‘battle with’ the condition during his lifetime (although he might equally own struggled or given up the struggle latterly). However, and in reporting his cause of death,it is simply not accurate to say that the ‘major haemorrhage was caused by his battle with alcoholism”.
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Source: theguardian.com