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Kai Ryssdal: You know what the music means: It’s time to read your letters.
There are always a couple of subjects we cover that generate a lot of mail. This time around, it was Chinese imports. Much has been made of recalled Chinese products — pet food, toothpaste and most recently, toys.
Last week, we quoted the president of the Toy Industry Association, and his remarks left William Cole and a few other listeners unsettled.
William Cole: I enjoyed the piece on Chinese products. But I was shocked that Carter Keithley thought he was putting my mind at ease when he stated that 99.9 percent of Chinese products are safe — and then stated that there were three billion toys sent to the United States. By my calculations, that suggests three million toys are not safe. I’d say that’s not a very good record. I think I’ll buy a lottery ticket instead — my odds are better there.
Another story that ruffled a few feathers was about the closure of Hooters outlets across New England. We noted that the restaurant known for buxom waitresses was, demographically, not a good fit for the home of the Puritans.
Bobbi Blake of Connecticut argued New Englanders aren’t Puritans, but progressive, and find Hooters Restaurants adolescent and behind the times. Listener Anthony LaBruna chalked it up to this:
Anthony LaBruna: Perhaps it is something as simple as bad taste has fallen out of fashion. I would guess that Hooters is most popular in the same areas that care about what happens to Paris Hilton.
Yesterday on the program, we aired a commentary on bankruptcy and entrepreneurship. We said debtors are barred from filing Chapter 7 if, after taking a means test, their income is above the state median wherever they happen to live.
Bankruptcy lawyer Robert Schwartz was one of many in his profession to write in with a correction:
Robert Schwartz: You’re barred from Chapter 7 only if your income is above the median and your expenses are low enough to leave you with enough disposable income to fund a feasible Chapter 13 repayment plan.
And finally, a couple of weeks ago, James Brown of Lancaster, Penn. caught both host and reporter using the word “loan” questionably:
James Brown: When did the word loan become a verb? Your lead story kept talking about banks “loaning money.” The verb is lend. Banks that lend money are known as lenders, not loaners. Shakespeare did not write, “Friends, Romans, countrymen, loan me your ear.”
To site the Oxford Dictionary of American Style and Usage, Mr. Brown, “loan” can be a verb when you’re talking about money.
Loan us your thoughts. Or lend ’em, whichever you prefer.
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