Another bloody gripe about use of the English language...

My sympathies run awash to Luciano Pavarotti as he fights his pancreatic cancer; his singing voice gives the world such delights and we want more of him, not less.

But the BBC, in reporting this fact, has fallen into a trap I've seen in novels I've read recently and it makes me cringe.

A person is  released from prison.

A person is discharged from a hospital.

I'd like to say "never the twain shall meet", but we all know, from the British media, that that is not the case.  There have been too many stories of criminals in open wards and what they have set out to achieve - and by the time it gets to the media, alas, what they set out to achieve has been achieved in some form or other.

But please, can we differentiate prison from hospital,with some element of accuracy?

I am sick of reading that a person is released from hospital.  This is never the case; one is discharged from a hospital and its care.

Comments

[Lee]

Oh well, if enough people use it, it will eventually be considered correct.

[crimeficreader]

Behind still matters. Always. Better than simple ignorance and lack of teaching.

[Clare]

yes, well said...(sorry I'm so behind with everything).

[crimeficreader]

Thanks Maxine. Good to know I'm not the only pedant on this planet, hankering after older and pre-diluted standards.

I was a little sad at my post, however; thought myself selfish in pursuing my use of English gripes after the fact. I wrote it merely hours before Pavarotti's death was announced, with no clue to the circumstances surrounding his discharge.

May he rest in peace and may we thank the world that we have his wonderful voice to treasure ad infinitum, due to recordings. His voice will always live on and so it should. His singing voice will go down in history, never to be forgotten. We were blessed by his presence during those 71+ years.

[Maxine]

Hear, hear! (Writes the editor.)