FLAWED ACCENT

posted by James Reel

    Arizona Daily Star editor Bobbie Jo Buel used to say of Spanish words printed in the paper, "If they don't have the right accent, they're misspelled." If that applies to all languages, not just Spanish, then there's big trouble on the arts page today. About the worst mistake a newpaper can make, Bobbie Jo also used to say, is misspelling someone's name. Well, the preview of Tartuffe consistently refers to the playwright as "Moliére." The accent is backwards. Thus, the name is misspelled. Come on, folks ... it's not too hard to look these things up. If the reporter gets it wrong, two copy editors and a page proofer are in line to catch the error, but nobody seems to be consulting the basic reference sources ... or has seen the name in print often enough to know which way the accent goes.