True to her nature as a fighter for, you know, the things that should be fought for, Pamela Bone is moderately optimistic in the end. But not before having a bit of a grumble. Some - though not all - of her grumbles seem entirely reasonable to me:
So the Governor-General, Michael Jeffery, writes an article about the late Pope's funeral. It begins: "For Marlena and I, seated only metres from the high altar and representing our country, the funeral service for Pope John Paul II was a profoundly humbling and moving experience."...No, don't accept it, Pam. It's an outrage. Like 'This begs the question', used to mean it raises the question - when you could just say 'This raises the question' and retain 'begging the question' for what it properly means. Like 'between 1989 to 2005', and 'a criteria', and 'I have always, and I still do, love cricket'. These are legitimate grumbles even for an optimist. (Thanks: Jim N.)For Marlena and I! I don't suppose governors-general are chosen for their writing ability, but is it too much to expect that the Queen's representative would be able to speak the Queen's English? (And what were the subeditors doing, letting it through?) This genteelism is creeping in all over the place, as if the word "me" has suddenly become impolite. But you only need to remove the "Marlena and" from the above sentence to see how silly and wrong it is.
Then David Stratton, on the ABC's At the Movies, describes an actor as "mischievious". The word is mischievous! There is no third "i" in it! I berated the TV.
I've just about given up on the difference between "uninterested" and "disinterested" and am (almost) prepared to accept they now mean the same as each other.