Here is to you, whose native tongue is English (#333, Topic L)

A week or so ago, the Wall Street Journal had a front-page story, complete with color photographs, headlined "Tired of Laughter, Beijing Gets Rid of Bad Translations." This apparently has made many readers laugh. Indeed, in today's WSJ, a reader, in a letter to the editor, said as much. He then wrote about a notice he read in a hotel in Manaus, Brazil. I must admit that I have never been to Manaus. According to National Geographic's World Map, Manuas is strategically located on the Amazon River, and has an airport -- but, it is certainly not in the same league, in terms of population, as Ann Arbor (the letter writer's hometown) or NYC, where WSJ is headquarterd. So, let's see how WSJ fares, in its own paper -- in its own language, English. Every day, a two-column-wide section on page A1, captioned "What's New," serves as an annotated index to that day's stories. Today, the lead entry under Business and Finance begins with this sentence: "Home Depot said it would considering selling or spinning off its wholesale-supply business to focus on its retail operations, bowing again to pressure from activist investor ..." Considering, selling, spinning, bowing -- they are participles; where is the verb? On today's B1, WSJ's Hong Kong correspondent offers this gem in his column: "Sometimes, my Chinese colleagues nap at their desks during lunch." Having touted how good Chinese food is in the same column, one wonders why this correspondent's Chinese colleagues would prefer napping to enjoying their lunch. Let me hazard a guess. Our esteemed WSJ correspondent meant to say during their lunch period. Today's WSJ also has an 8-page special advertising section, touting "focus on energy," in which leading oil companies each has a full page ad. One leads off with the following: "There are 193 countries in the world. None of them are energy independent." None are; not none is? English is not my native tongue, but I cannot laugh at what I have read or what I have captured here. I do wish to plead, however, that a person whose native language is English be more tolerant of those who are trying their best to speak the language. To err is human; indeed, to err in a language not your own is to be expected.