Sorry, Diane. It's not just you.

One of the greatest mysteries to me is that so many people misuse the English language every day and nobody notices. What makes it even more mystifying is that many of those misusers are highly paid television journalists. They include Diane Sawyer, a major offender; Scott Pelley, who just landed an anchor job; Leslie Stahl and others on 60 minutes and—well, the majority of news announcers. What's the misuse? Simply this: turning two-syllable words into three-syllable words. Thus gambling, wrangling, struggling, juggling, stumbling become gambeling, wrangeling, struggeling, juggeling, stumbeling. And those are just a few words out of hundreds. Every night I see Diane blithely add her extra incorrect syllable to word after word without realizing she is mangling the language, or, as she would say, mangeling. Now I realize the language changes, but I have never seen a memo or report that suggests that thousands of two-syllable words are now to be pronounced with three syllables. I would have remembered that. So, being somewhat of a purist, I can only accept that that nobody, least of all the networks, care (cares?) about this error, which I find very puzzling—no, not puzzeling—puzzling.