Can't read it wrong

[benhall.1]

Okay, try this on for size: "A quintessentially American crime declines: Robbing banks doesn’t pay as it used to."

Grammatically correct, all of it. But at least where I live, the last clause is an entrenched colloquial idiom: "doesn't pay like it used to" (or even "[it] don't pay like it used to" if you're really getting down and dirty). Idioms are famous for grammatical waywardness, and to me that is part of their power, if that makes any sense. I use "doesn't pay like it used to" myself as a relaxed way of describing all kinds of diminishing returns, not just monetary, and because it's an idiom, a quip, I think nothing of it. So I read the above and think, Now the writer's trying too hard. In correcting the idiom, the result is far too stiff.

YMMV.

I know, I know. I'm a tough crowd.

Hmmm ... yet for me the usage "like it used to" sounds almost knowingly colloquial and, OTOH, in the context "as it used to" sounds simply natural and unexceptional.

Cultural context may be everything in this instance.

[Nanohedron]

Could you expand on "knowingly colloquial"? I have an idea, but I'd rather not go off half-cocked without knowing more of what you mean.

Cultural context may be everything in this instance.

FWIW, I just Googled "doesn't pay like it used to", and aside from one citing of the very headline I quoted using "as" (Washington Post; the other iteration of the same article in the Bryan-College Station Eagle used "like", as it happens, so someone somewhere already has an issue with this for whatever reason), on the very first page alone was repetition upon repetition of the "like" form. From this, I expect subsequent pages to be little different. I don't attribute this to broad misuse, or to a mere parroting of my keywords, but rather to the formulaic language that it is, and its sources are wide and disparate. This cannot simply be a quaint phenomenon of my own little region. It may be an Americanism, however, judging from your take on it. If that's the case then the Washington Post, being an American rag, is even less to be excused for needlessly hyper-correcting a common American colloquial formation.

Just to be sure, I also Googled "doesn't pay as it used to", and what did I come up with? The same article, but otherwise zilch. I should think it's clear enough that "doesn't pay like it used to" is established formulaic language, at least in the States.

Let us remember that the Washington Post has gotten well-deserved lashings for its parade of grammatical offenses. If its writers don't know the difference between "lets" and "let's", then perhaps it ought to be no surprise that they have little grasp of the everyday intimacies of their own language, as well.

[benhall.1]

I've just tried the Google experiment myself. How odd ... I must look up Fowler's.

[Nanohedron]

I must look up Fowler's.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the phrase postdates Fowler.

[benhall.1]

I must look up Fowler's.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the phrase postdates Fowler.

Ah. You could well be right.

[Nanohedron]

I have a sneaking suspicion that the phrase postdates Fowler.

Ah. You could well be right.

Well, the original, anyway. I'm guessing you might as well look up Aelfric, then.

[chas]

FWIW, I just Googled "doesn't pay like it used to", and aside from one citing of the very headline I quoted using "as" (Washington Post; the other iteration of the same article in the Bryan-College Station Eagle used "like", as it happens, so someone somewhere already has an issue with this for whatever reason), on the very first page alone was repetition upon repetition of the "like" form. From this, I expect subsequent pages to be little different.

FWIW, the WaPo has people who specifically write the headlines, separate from both the people who write the articles and copy editors.

[benhall.1]

separate from both the people who write the articles

There are only two people who write all the articles in the Washington Post??!!?!?

[Nanohedron]

FWIW, the WaPo has people who specifically write the headlines, separate from both the people who write the articles and copy editors.

A closer glimpse into the dark machine. I keep imagining that headline writers would have a flair for haiku. OTOH, after a hard day of wordsmithing under pressure, more writing's probably the last thing I'd want to do.

[chas]

I can't find it, but Wait Wait Don't Tell Me said the NYT had this headline this past week:

New Emails Tied to Weiner

[Nanohedron]

From an article about a stray croc in Queensland:

"...officials plan on taking the to an crocodile farm."

[Nanohedron]

A two-for-one, here:

"And until [...] their ilk introduce some kind of authentication features, these problems will only exarcerbate."

[Tunborough]

Totally fabricated, I confess, but an illustration of what a nasty language English is:

I saw the horse run in the race fall past fall last.

[benhall.1]

Totally fabricated, I confess, but an illustration of what a nasty language English is:

I saw the horse run in the race fall past fall last.

Doesn't work in British English.

[kkrell]

I don't see it working in American English, either. Must be those silly Canadians.