Pronoun Pain!

Talking on television without a script can be challenging.  We expect a professional newsperson, however, to do his or her best to correctly model simple grammar.

Gretchen Carlson, of Fox News, and her guest, swimming teacher Ilise Kohleriter, were interpreting video footage of a baby, Elizabeth, who was swimming competently in a large pool.  Our experienced host should have been able to smoothly grab the correct pronoun-- in this case, a word that stands for one baby.  

Gretchen asked, "Is this the same kind of program where you basically throw the baby into the water... and the baby just has to fend for themselves?"  (What? This hurts more than fingernails on a chalkboard!) 

The guest, later in the interview, made the same faux pas when she stated, "I think every child should learn to save themselves."

I'm not accusing Ms. Carlson of leading the swimming instructor astray-- Ms. Kohleriter may have been equally grammar-challenged.  However, had the host said, "...and the baby just has to fend for herself," perhaps her guest might have eased into the same pattern.  In any case, the television audience would have had one more opportunity to hear correct pronoun usage in a medium in which English erodes daily.

English is going to the dogs.

A scripted television ad for Purina Dog Chow shows a little girl kicking a soccer ball, as her dog runs around.  The child's voice says, "When I started playing soccer, I wasn't so good.  So, me and Sadie started practicing."

Why must the writers have the girl model poor grammar?  It would be so easy to have her say, "So, Sadie and I started practicing."  Oh, of course! The ad writers are probably young and grammar-impaired.