War of the Words

Staff

Thursday, June 17, 1999

Of Mice and Monkeys

How astute, if not downright brave, of Herald reporter Joe Livernois to point out the failings of the mainstream media--including the formidable hand that feeds him. In his column last Friday, Livernois commented on a SF Weekly (no relation to this paper) ploy to con the "habitually lazy, press-release driven, [and] gullible" mainstream press--as described in the SF Weekly--by staging a protest of harassed yuppies living in San Francisco''s Mission District. The big-city news apes fell for it hook, line and sinker, including reporters from the Associated Press and both of San Francisco''s dailies, the Chronicle and the Examiner.

They were fooled, opines Livernois, because of a trend in mainstream media to cover any agitating mouse that squeaks, all in an effort to keep up with the pandering alternative press. To use Livernois'' own raccoon example, it would then be, Squid assumes, the alternative media''s fault that the full-color image of the >&quot;I''d Give My Life to Stop the Raccoon Holocaust" lady recently graced the pages of the Herald. Nice try, Joe, but don''t blame us. While the Weekly has admittedly paraded a stuffed raccoon on its cover, it has never so shamelessly pandered to--as Livernois puts it--a raccoon supporter.

Carmel-by-the-Sea or Carmel by the Sea?

As a lover of the written word, Squid was pleased as punch to hear that the Carmel Planning Commission unanimously voted to require proper grammar on a local merchant''s sign. The sign, say commissioners, should read "Paloosh Gourmet Women''s Clothing." Currently, the sign apparently lacks an apostrophe.
While Squid can''t argue with the apostrophe policy, it unfortunately has forced me to bring to light an ever-burning question that has Squid wondering if Carmel is a practice-what-you-preach kind of a city.
Why is it Carmel-by-the-Sea? Shouldn''t it just be Carmel by the Sea? We all learned in school that compound modifiers should be strung together with hyphens when modifying a noun, such as "nit-picking commissioners" or a "you''ve-got-to-be- kidding stare." But Carmel-by-the-Sea isn''t a compound modifier, it doesn''t modify anything. Does one hyphenate Sand-City, Pacific-Grove or San-Juan-Bautista? How about Los-Angeles or San-Luis-Obispo? Consider this your 30-day notice, city of Carmel: Lose the hyphens or hit the road.
Bait Squid at squid@coastweekly.com.

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