Washington "Times" Ditches Old-Timey Scare Quotes

Matt Welch | February 26, 2008

New Washington Times editor John Solomon, with a stroke of his MSM-laced pen, has done away with the Moonie newspaper tradition of putting scare quotes around "gay marriage," referring to gay people as "homosexuals," and referring to illegal immigrants as "illegal aliens."

Some may call it progress (though I guess I missed the day when "homosexual" was deemed a comparative slur), but I for one will mourn the passing of Wes Pruden's style guide. There is a great flattening out of acceptable styles in American newspaperdom, especially as concerns its most controversial topic areas, and it has often been to the detriment of the overall language (for instance, my beloved verb "Welsh" is insulta non grata at the L.A. Times and many other newspapers). And there's something refreshingly transparent about putting your headline style where your heart is.    

Jacob Sullum on the implications of "gay marriage" here. More scare-quote appreciation here. (Link via Romenesko.)