One of the core pillars of any functioning democracy is a free and independent press: a fourth estate ready to hold the powerful to account.
At Crikey, we believe wholeheartedly in this principle, and spend a lot of time prodding our colleagues in the mainstream media in the hope that it inspires them to do better. It’s a tough job, but someone’s got to do it.
But we also know it’s important to practice what we preach. And sometimes, that means shining the spotlight on ourselves. Yes, as hard as it is to believe, those of us in the Crikey bunker sometimes make mistakes. Shocking, but it happens.
On Thursday, we published an article by Megan Clement about the upcoming French elections. We think it’s a terrific piece and well worth a read.
Unfortunately, when the article was published, its headline contained what can only be described as a shitty error: we’d spelled the French expletive with an “é”, where no “é” should be.
It should be stressed this typo was not the fault of the author, but rather one of our no-good layabout editors. Rest assured, they’ve been standing in the naughty corner wearing a dunce cap ever since.
The good news is that on the rare occasions like this when the editorial team lets one through to the keeper, our beloved readers are there to make us feel like idiots offer us some helpful feedback:
Merde, not merdé
There’s no accent on merde.
Why is there an acute on the last “e” in “merde”?
There’s no accent on merde.
“Merde”, the noun, does NOT end with an e acute, just a regular e.
There is no accent, whether grave or aigu, in “merde”.
The accent at the end of the word needs to be removed.
Why an accent on “merde”? It’s a one-syllable word!
Just to let you know that there is no accent over the French word in your editorial preface. I have come across some Asian construction company trying to be chic by spelling “vue” as “veiue” and having a grave accent over an “o”. Horreur!
I wonder how many people have told you that “merde” does not have an accent over the final “e”? It’s merde, nor merday.
What is “merdé”? There is no such word in French. There is, however “MERDE”, which has NO ACCENT AIGU ON THE LAST “E”. Quel article merdique!
And it wasn’t just the readers. We also heard from one of our regular contributors:
I think there is a headline correction needed. The word for “shit” in French is “merde” (no acute accent) pronounced maird. J’ai merdé is — “I stuffed up” — the past tense using the verb merder — “to stuff up” or “mess up” — and pronounced jay mairday.
And just this morning, we received a formal citation from the Académie Française — established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII — which maintains the sanctity of the French language.
Nous avons été officiellement informés de vos transgressions. Que ceci soit votre premier et unique avertissement. Pour la honte!
Crikey regrets the error. Or to put it another way: Çrikéy règrette l’erreür.
