I did something the other day that I only occasionally do: watched a major league baseball game on television. One of the sportscasters covering the game was a man who can clearly be said to be an authority on both baseball and sportscasting. His use of words, therefore, can be said to have significance beyond that of your illiterate-ballplayer-turned-sportscaster who characteristically employs incorrect verb tenses, splits infinitives, or uses prepositions to end sentences on. Thus, I was a bit concerned when he described one player – who was at bat – as a "hitter," and then corrected himself: "I should … Continue reading On the Purity of Language