By Jerry Osborn
Editor, the Gauntlet,
Re: "Writing like a smart caveman" and "Gauntlet editorial provides foresight," Feb. 26, 2004,
Jennifer Davies’ letter is so contrived it is almost certainly a put-up job by a friend of the complainee. Nevertheless, I chose to take it at face value so I could use it in my class as an example of defective logic (specifically, the concept that someone who complains about unclear writing must hate English).
Hopefully we can look forward to more gems from Ms. Davies’ son, perhaps along the lines of "people who complain about unaccounted for spending by the Liberals must hate government" or "people who complain about their Fords constantly breaking down must hate cars."
As for Mr. Iakimovich, I suggest he consult the style manual to which he refers, where he will find "anal," being a complete word rather than an abbreviation and not occurring at the end of a sentence, does not require a period at its end.