My wife heard a couple of gems recently. The reporter said that the interviewee was “of the green eye shadow class – an accountant.” Do all accountants wear green eye shadow now? I think she meant green eyeshade, but maybe I’m being a sexist. I’m sure there are some accountants who wear green eye shadow. Some of them probably aren’t female, for that matter, but I doubt those subtleties were understood by the reporter. I think green eyeshades for accountants went out with men’s sleeve garters, too.

The other one was a different radio reporter who was interviewing someone named Ena. He began by greeting him, “Hi, Ena.” Say it out loud. Maybe he was trying to be funny.

Yet another faux pas that several reporters and anchors repeat is calling recent storms “potential dangers” to burned out areas. They aren’t potential dangers, they are actual dangers. This sometimes comes in the form of “potential risks.” They are actual risks that have the potential for harm. “Potential danger” is like saying a coin flip has a potential 50-50 chance of being heads. It’s an actual 50-50 chance.