“Organised chronologically, Matisse in the 1930s begins with a look at the Nice period, exemplified by his voluptuous Odalisque with Grey Trousers (1927). A seductive model in harem pants lays on a green bedroll, surrounded by brilliant red and yellow wall patterns.”
(Diane Bernard, “Matisse’s The Dance: The masterpiece that changed history,” bbc.com, 1-18-23)
The mugwump who rails about “grammar errors” invariably goes down as a pitiable loser in greater society’s estimation, and not undeservedly.
Never mind that. I don’t give a damn what people say and write in ordinary discourse, but it sticks in my craw when a professional, native-English-speaking journalist in the hire of a reputable organ such as the BBC, writing a published article that presumptively has undergone editorial vetting, commits the hideously common fuck-up (pardon my language) exemplified in the above quotation.
For my sins, I’m condemned to be foolishly bothered by this particular fuck-up (pardon my language) and to cease being interested, invariably if unjustly, in whatever else the journalist may have to say. If you live by the expository published word, you’re perceived according to the level of your mastery of it. It’s a hotly denied truth.
(*This potty-mouthed post is emitted in the heat of petulance, to be repented at leisure. Whenever I spew invective I know I’ve slipped the bonds that tether me to good taste.)
(c) 2023 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
EthicalDative 
The idiot wrote lays instead of lies? I’m more annoyed that art critics who have no idea how to make art would call anything Matisse did ” creatively paralyzed.” Don’t let the bad grammar get to you. We have a more serious problem here, that bs. they churn out every time they write.
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Stay angry, Chris! There’s lots of grist for the mill. It keeps us sharp. As a linguist I tend to get stuck in the grammar mud. That fellow Matisse could paint like a house afire from where I stand. To be truthful, when I went ahead and finished the article I found some useful thoughts in it. But our needs are so subjective, what’s useful to one person can be another one’s codswallop.
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I like that word codswallop! All I can do about it is complain on a blog. Thanks for letting me opine.
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I thank YOU for weighing in. The best thing about blogging is to have dialog with other bloggers who have spirited, informed views. “Codswallop” is a Britishism that I’ve developed an affection for. It can cover so much ground!
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I agree with the good thing about blogging and the funny British word!!
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I agree with you completely Jim – keep up the invective!!
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Thank you, Sue! Always good to hear from you. Cheers and regards.
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Thank you, Sue! I’m pleased that you share my strong opinion. 🙂
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I have no holy orders that convey the twice requested pardon, but I am running to the sink, and I am going to douse my phone with water. Hope that’s good enough?
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Yikes, do no such thing! Your phone is the marvelous tool of your continually engaging fusion of image and word. No silly posturing of mine over complacent journalism is applicable to your creations.
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