Twisted Truss
From Benedict le Vay
Sir: The Trussites have hit me but I have not sunk (Letters, 17 January). Here's a salvo in reply. To quote more examples from the book, Lynne Truss talks of 'hoovering'. How anyone who sets herself up as an arbiter of correctness can use a proper noun and a trademark as a lower-case present participle, when anyone who loved the language would have avoided it, is quite beyond me. In what way is this better than the Kylies and Waynes in the shop downstairs from my office who put up a sign saying, 'Panasonic hoovers, E199'?
To say an error has become commonplace isn't the point, as the author herself insists. Many people use Innit. every few seconds, but it's still wrong, in nit?
Equally she blasts uneducated greengrocers for putting an apostrophe in 'parsnip's' but she, with the benefit of all her education, writes 3R's. What is that apostrophe doing there, apart from being aberrant? 3Rs is quite clear. Does one know one's Rs from one's elbow?
The fact that a book setting itself up as a paragon was praised by the entire British media and literati despite its many mistakes shows how bad things have become. And just as having 'why' in a sentence doesn't make it a question, so having 'doctor' in your name doesn't make you right about the language.
Loaded Brewer's at dawn on Hampstead Heath, Dr Pine?
Benedict le Vay
Greatham, Hampshire
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