Last week, the Noblesville Chamber of Commerce honored the deserving winners of the Noblesville Volunteer Awards. Among them: Bill Taylor, all-around volunteer for being an ardent supporter of The Boys and Girls Club, among others; Anita Beck, faith-based volunteer for her efforts at Noblesville First United Methodist Church; Greg Ayers, mayor’s volunteer for his activities with Sunrisers Kiwanis and the Boy Scouts; Cindy Haas, outstanding environmentalist for work with the Hamilton County Master Gardener Association and Keep Noblesville Beautiful; BlueSky Technology Partners for corporate volunteerism with seven organizations; Noblesville High School juniors Ty Chilton, Griffin Janosky, Dane Jeon, David Pimley, Kai Strubel, and Cameron Thompson for exemplary service learning of more than 1,360 hours; and Chuck Layton for lifetime achievement. A former Korean War POW, he is a board member for Meals on Wheels. He has volunteered for many organizations through the years. Folks like these really help to keep our city moving and in a fine light. Congratulations to the winners and to all volunteers, for that matter.
* * *
One of us is a former word guy, having spent the vast majority of his newspaper career on the news side of the business. He was a reporter, then an editor and lastly a department head. So, when The Associated Press tweeted last week that its new stylebook would allow the use of “over” when meaning “more than” or “during,” we both shuddered. This is simply the continuing degradation of grammar in America. In general, our countrymen comprise a lazy lot with respect to English usage, so Americans typically say, “It’s over $100,” when they mean, “It’s more than $100.” How about “over the weekend”? It should be “during the weekend,” Over is a spatial term, plain and simple. This, however, is a war we will not win – except with respect to its use in your newspaper. Otherwise, and succinctly stated, we’re over it.
