NYT - Stupid, Ignorant or just plain Arrogant?

On Sunday August 20th 3006, Sunday's New York Times, a media institution which I've taken to task several times*  featured a story about Venezuela entitled "Venezuela’s Cup Runs Over, and the Scotch Whiskey Flows". The story included numerous misspellings of "whisky". Here is but a sample...

Scotch whiskey holds a rarefied place in the collective psyche of this status-obsessed country of 26 million. Per capita consumption outstrips that in relatively prosperous neighbors like Brazil and Argentina. Venezuelans, both young and old, often drink Scotch over a leisurely lunch, at family gatherings, at nightclubs, or as an aperitif, their ice-clinking glasses filled to the rim.

“Scotch whiskey has a mystique for Venezuelans that is unmatched by any other drink.”

Bad spell check, right? (That would be stupid.)

Nope, that's not it. According to this post on Fausta's Blog which I found via WhiskySchool, the New York Times does this on purpose. Fausta actually contacted Joe Plambeck, of the "Office of the Public Editor" to ask why they misspell "whisky".

Joe was nice enough to let Fausta know that the country of Scotland and the Scotch Whisky industry are all wrong, as it is spelled "whiskey" in the NYT style book:

To: "Fausta"
Subject: 8/21 OPE Response Re: Venezuelas Cup Runs Over, and the Scotch Whiskey Flows
From: "Public/NYT/NYTIMES"Alert 
Date: Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:44:54 -0400    

Dear Fausta Wertz,

Thanks for writing. I thought you might like to see the paper's stylebook entry on "whiskey":

whiskey(s). The general term covers bourbon, rye, Scotch and other liquors distilled from a mash of grain. For consistency, use this spelling even for liquors (typically Scotch) labeled whisky. Also see alcoholic beverages.

Sincerely,
Joe Plambeck
Office of the Public Editor
The New York Times

(Maybe that makes them ignorant - they just don't know any better.)

But is it true? Does the NYT consistently use the "whiskey" spelling?

If this is true, then searching for "whisky" on the NYT site should turn up nothing, right?

Well, using the NYT search engine to search for 'whisky' returns 2,564 instances of the "no - e" spelling.

Searching for 'whiskey' on the other hand returns 1,693 instances. SO, using the excuse that their style book dictates one spelling over another isn't really true - after all, they aren't very consistent at all are they?

So, that means that The New York Times randomly decides how to spell words and when to use each spelling?!? And then dismiss people who point out their mistakes.

And THAT is just plain arrogant.

---

* Integrity
  Next time, write about Vodka. Please

Comments

[T. Shamenek]

Arrogant,elitist,liars.
The New York Times never lets the truth or the facts get in the way of a good story.
I thought the New York Times was the definition of ignorant.

[Redleg]

T. Shamenek
Yeah, like when the NYT and reporter Judith Miller wrote about all those bad W.M.D.s in Iraq.

Speaking of WMD, has anyone tried the Bruichladdich?

[beau]

I think more arrogant than ignorant.

If reporters are indeed supposed to follow an NYT style guide, then they should consistently follow it.

I see the same problem with grape variety names. Some authors write 'Riesling' (big r) while others stick with 'riesling' (little r). It's a proper name isn't it? Shouldn't it then be capitalized? Do I have grammar OCD?..

[Bob Galway]

Usually its whisky in Scotland and whiskey in Ireland. I suppose the NYT thing is a result of a history of Irish immigrants in New York.

[Amit B.]

Your commentary on NYT is accurate. However, I think there is a reasonable explanation for why the work whisky shows up on the NTY website. Its called syndication. Articles written by a journalist from, say, Reuters may be syndicated into NYT without alterations and, hence, will not follow NTY's style guide. However, I cant be certain all those 2564 instances of 'whisky' are exclusively via syndication only.