This damn cheap verbal construction sticks in my craw and wiggles and twists. I don’t care to hear this abomination spoken (and I have one friend who applies it to his conversations like barbecue sauce on over-cooked hamburgers), and I find it disreputable when professional writers use it in things for which they were paid.<\/p>\n
Current offenders:<\/p>\n
Conservative commentators who seized on this tragedy to complain that the so-called<\/b> liberal media was more interested in abused Iraqi prisoners than a murdered American civilian are either lying or stupid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
- Sara Shipley, St. Louis Post-Dispatch<\/i><\/a>:
\nThe Howard Bend Levee District is nearly finished with a $25 million upgrade designed to protect against a so-called<\/b> 500-year flood, or one that has a 1 in 500 chance of happening in any given year. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/ul>\n
Face it, “so-called” is the “alleged” without the elegance and without, you know, actual allegations. So-called is the drop-in equivalent of an “authorities say” asterisk in a headline, a written sneer that would be denied if someone questioned a speaker who added the equivalent tone of voice. It’s making air-quotes with the English language, and it deserves all the mockery we can summon.<\/p>\n