I love letters to the editor. They’re the best way ever to fill up the opinion page; I mean to receive reader feedback.
One of my favorite letters received by the student newspaper editors I advise was about the number of grammatical errors in the paper.
The letter, of course, was drowning in a sea of its own grammatical mistakes.
The author apparently was motivated to speak out about the editor’s mistakes after seeing “incorrect use” of the word flier. Everyone knows flyer is the correct spelling, according to the author.
Well, yes, but not really. Let me explain.
A flier is an aviator or a handbill, according to Associated Press Style, which we all know is the mecca of media formats.
A flyer is the proper name of some trains and buses. For example, You can catch a ride on the Heartland Flyer in Oklahoma City.
That poor, misguided student didn’t realize there were two spellings of the word. Perhaps he should have looked it up before penning his criticism.
deleted_2698155_BruceSallan1 says
I did NOT know that difference! Thank you, Prof!
profkrg says
@BruceSallan1 It’s kind of one of my pet peeves. Ok, it’s one of my MANY grammatical peeves.
Kenna
NATHANHATCHER says
@profkrg I was thinking about this last night.
profkrg says
@NATHANHATCHER because you know which one is correct, yes?
NATHANHATCHER says
@profkrg Flars. That’s how my grandma says it.