Saturday 22 January 2011

How the Mighty Have Fallen

Once upon a time Hansard, which is the official report of the debates in the nation's parliament,  was a byword for excellence. Now they've gone all 'work smart' and democratic, casting aside the old ways of doing things on the grounds that 'all that fuddy-duddy careful doublechecking was really such a waste of time' (and for 'time' read 'money'). As a result standards have dropped. Whereas once upon a time you'd have been hard-pressed to find a single fault in an entire year's output, nowadays I discover some new howler every time I open the thing. In this example from March last year, it becomes apparent that today's editors no longer know the difference between 'pour' and 'pore':

2 comments:

  1. Ouch, 'pour' and 'pore', that's a nasty little error. I still have to look quite a lot of words up, even at my advanced age, but that mix-up just instinctively feels wrong.

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  2. One of the nicest people I've ever met worked there. He would be turning in his grave - in fact, I'm almost surprised that he hasn't erupted out of it to go forth and wreak punishment on those responsible.

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