It's the little things that get up your nose

I have become used to the idea that there are few people writing comments to Huffington, Politico, or any of several others who know that there is a difference between "to", "too", and "two".

I am getting used to the new convention that "loose" (opposite of tight)* may be used in place of "lose" (opposite of win)*.

I can almost keep from retching when people** insist on substituting "service" for "serve". The results are usually entertaining.

But I do draw the line at "unquote". If you started by signaling you are quoting by saying "quote", then you have quoted. When you end the quotation, the phrase is "end quote". "Unquote doesn't even make sense, other than some kind of speech defect, or regional accent that runs the two words together.

As a result, I admit to being an unabashed fan of Dr. Rachel Maddow. I thoroughly enjoy Kieth Olbermann, but ending an otherwise erudite segment with "end quote" reminds one of the Prince Charles "carbuncle" critique of contemporary architecture.

Now if the people at MSNBC would drop one or more of the endless repeats of "hardball" and gave Rachel Maddow her own show.......... dare to dream

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* Yes, I am aware there are many other meanings. None of them support the single spelling.

**People is the plural of "Person". "Persons" is what third grade students write before they learn that there are other way to make a plural that adding "s" to the end of a noun.