The column that has fun with the smaller mistakes and missteps of Australia’s mainstream mediocre; that pays homage to those sweet little fishes that individually don’t amount to a full meal but collectively can cause a tummy upset over the overall state of the once great and noble craft of journalism in this country.

Well, we have repeatedly told you BUGgers out there that this is the media column that dabbles in the little stuff that may or may not amount to much at all when it comes to assessing the health or otherwise of the once great craft of journalism.

And there’s no better example of that than today’s offering, where we look at something that graced the very front page of today’s (Saturday’s) print edition of The Sydney Morning Herald. And it centres around the use of collective nouns and whether they should take a singular or plural verb.

Now the bitter, washed-up, hacks who compile this column accept that their own sub-editing days are many decades behind them. And they also accept that in modern English usage at least, collective nouns that once always took a singular verb often now take either that or the plural form. The language is constantly evolving, right?

Still, here’s why they gleaned from a quick online-search: A collective noun is a noun that refers to some sort of group or collective—of people, animals, things, etc. Collective nouns are normally not treated as plural, even though they refer to a group of something.

And please bear in mind these same compilers back in the day were not all that fussed with the notion that the word “couple” was always taken as singular, something modern MSM evidence suggests it’s still very much the case.

Our compiling hacks – back then and still to this day – never understood why the following wasn’t acceptable: “The couple are desperate to have a child.” Pioneers, weren’t they?

And so with all that in mind, we return to today’s SMH where the subeditor has decided that the collective noun “team” deserves a plural verb. (at top)

Please don’t write in because we don’t have a fucking clue whether they’re right or wrong on this.

But somewhere in our old-fashioned brains, some things still jar just a bit.

“The team are flying out today for their NRL clash against the North Queensland Cowboys”. Just doesn’t sound quite right, does it?

“The herd are making their way to the milking sheds.” Not really.

“The Liberal Party are full of racists”. Factual, but still a bit jarring?

***

The one thing our compilers can remember from their subbing days – they were around long enough to observe the practice first hand in the computer age – was the final “spell check” option after subbing was complete and the last thing any sensible, well-trained sub did before sending the yarn to revise.

And so we turn to page 5 of the same edition of the SMH where the D has unfortunately dropped off a Deputy Mayor’s title (below).

We have no idea how few subeditors are left at mastheads such as the SMH and the immense work pressure they might be under but still … guys!

Please! That final spell check takes just moments and is so, so, important for both your and the paper’s eputation.

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