Grammar Cops to White House: Spelling Counts

By Warren Rojas
Posted March 19, 2015 at 1:07pm

Convinced that the relationship between President Barack Obama and the unified Republican Congress simply could not get worse?  

Oh, please. As long as there’s spell shaming to be done, of course it can.  

One Washington Post scribe noticed recently that White House communicators had a helluva time putting out press releases last month. (Damn you, February!)  

The shop doesn’t appear to be making incredible strides. A House aide passed along the latest transgression perpetrated by administration wordsmiths.  

(CQ Roll Call Photo Illustration)
(CQ Roll Call Photo Illustration)

“We all make mistakes from time to time… but for the record, the U.S. Capital is Washington, D.C. The U.S. Capitol is where Members of Congress conduct the people’s business and exercise important oversight of the executive branch,” the GOP stickler stated. “This may still be a foreign concept to the White House.”  

To be fair, the White House intern tasked with chronicling the St. Paddy’s Day festivities said Obama and the Irish prime minister were planning to break bread (soda, I would imagine) in the “U.S. Capit-I-al” — which may very well be a secret, magical place akin to Brigadoon or Honalee.  

The self-appointed grammarian-in-chief also missed the linguistic stumble in the very next sentence.  

(CQ Roll Call Photo Illustration)
(CQ Roll Call Photo Illustration)

Seems logical that the presidential mouthpiece-in-training meant to say “earlier.”  

But as someone who routinely grapples with Merriam and Webster (Why must you continue to taunt me ocassionally … occassionally — oh, never mind!), I’m willing to let bygones be bygones. (Assuming I actually spelled that correctly.)  

It remains unclear whether House Republicans Darrell Issa of California, Jason Chaffetz of Utah and Trey Gowdy of South Carolina will be as forgiving. (Subpoena away!)