In the case of professor John McWhorter, he is also wrong. The reality is that “ax” versus “ask” and other idiomatic faux pas have nothing to do with ethnicity. Two far more damaging problems are ...

Call it “reader’s ear.” Sometimes, it’s a tin ear. Reader’s ear is an affliction suffered by those of us who gather most of our information by reading, as opposed to listening. We may see a word in ...