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Contempt for quote choice

Editor: Re: Charter rights ‘flaunted’ by investigation, Aug. 4. I found this headline both funny and sad. At first, I thought it was PAN’s error, but then I realized that it was a direct quote from Provincial Court Judge Paul R. Meyers – in ‘written opinion’ yet!

Editor:

Re: Charter rights ‘flaunted’ by investigation, Aug. 4.

I found this headline both funny and sad. At first, I thought it was PAN’s error, but then I realized that it was a direct quote from Provincial Court Judge Paul R. Meyers – in ‘written opinion’ yet!

I would have expected a judge to know the difference between “flaunt” (to make a brazen or gaudy display) and “flout” (to display scorn or contempt).

Note to judges: Keep your dictionaries handy. Spell-check can’t tell the difference between words of entirely different meanings, as long as they are spelled correctly.

Pat Tietzen, White Rock

• • •

Did Judge Paul Meyers really write that Cpl. Michaud “flaunted” the accuseds’ Charter of Rights? One has a picture of RCMP Cpl. Danny Michaud draping the Charter around his neck like a boa…

I am sure he said, or at least meant, “flouted.” If he wrote “flaunted,” your quotation should have followed it with [sic].

Continuing in this picky vein, I see that "an evening soiree" is planned to celebrate the White Rock Museum's re-opening.

Pretty hard to have a 'soiree' any time but the evening…  But that is being picky.

Michele McManus, White Rock