An anonymous reader writes:
New York Times standards editor Phil Corbett has had enough of his journalists' sloppy writing. Their offense? Using the "inherently silly" word "tweet" 18 times in the last month. In an internal memo obtained by theawl.com, he orders his writers to use alternatives, such as " 'use Twitter' . . . or 'a Twitter update'." He admits that " . . . new technology terms sprout and spread faster than ever. And we don’t want to seem paleolithic. But we favor established usage and ordinary words . . . ." After all, he points out, ". . . another service may elbow Twitter aside next year, and “tweet” may fade into oblivion." Of course, it is also possible that social media sites will elbow paleolithic media into oblivion, and Mr. Corbett will no longer have to worry about word use.
