As we say, an old standard still holds
Editors can be closely enough attuned to language to see it change before their very eyes, even as they are professionally charged with maintaining the status quo of grammar and style 鈥� at least until the next edition.聽
Oh, the drama of it all! The heartbreak of seeing a hard-won position crumble on the page!
Perhaps a dozen years ago, I harrumphed in-house about the need to hold the line against use of 鈥渓ike鈥� as a conjunction in our published copy. In other words, don鈥檛 say, 鈥淟ike he said, the sky is blue.鈥� Say instead, 鈥淎s he said, the sky is blue.鈥� Exceptions were to be made for direct quotations, especially from people who don鈥檛 consult our stylebook before opening their mouth.
A colleague said he appreciated my efforts but thought the distinction I sought to maintain would be gone within a few years. In my heart of hearts, I had to admit I thought he was probably right.聽
Lo, these many years later, I鈥檓 not so sure.
Despite many indications of general civilizational collapse all around us, the like/as distinction seems to be holding on better than we might have expected, at least in the world of professionally edited writing. I鈥檝e just done a quick search of 鈥渓ike he said鈥� and 鈥渁s he said鈥� on Google News. (This was meant to bring up results that have had a little more professional attention than those of a generic Web search.)聽
鈥淎s he said鈥� creamed 鈥渓ike he said,鈥� with a score of 5,470 to 1,860. And the 鈥渓ike鈥� hits included examples where 鈥渁s he said鈥� wasn鈥檛 an option, such as this, from AllAfrica.com: 鈥� 鈥榃e are still at the stage of stopping the war,鈥� not trying to hammer out what a transitional government for South Sudan would look like, he said.鈥�
Meanwhile, over on the 鈥渁s he said鈥� tab of my browser, I find The Standard being maintained by publications as diverse as (1) The Guardian (鈥淸London Mayor Boris] Johnson, asked ... if he had plans to return to the Commons, insisted that, as he said 鈥榓bout a billion times,鈥�...鈥�); (2) (鈥淸Jeremy] Lin acknowledged he struggled with the move to come off the Rockets鈥� bench, but as he said immediately after the season...鈥�); and (3) the splendidly named , which reported on the efforts of local public safety officials to inspect a system of 100-year-old tunnels running beneath the City of Eureka Springs, Ark.: 鈥淸A consultant] was to accompany the spelunkers through the tunnels, but realized quickly after entering, as he said, that he is 鈥榓 little larger and a little older than some of those guys.鈥� 鈥�
So I鈥檓 going to declare The Standard holding, at least for now.聽
And flooding hazards aside, don鈥檛 you want to live in Lovely County? Don鈥檛 you want to be that citizen?
