Good Times at The American Interest

We came across the following error in an otherwise excellent piece in The American Interest titled, "On Forgetting the Obvious":

"A non-warrior democracy with a limited appetite for casualties is probably a good thing in terms of putting the breaks on a directionless war strategy."

This homographic hiccup is almost cute, really. Breaks, brakes--tee hee*. We would almost rather consider it as an invitation to The Grammar Wall of Shame - a private challenge between The American Interest and us. Well done, mesdames et messieurs. Challenge accepted and met.

Nevertheless, The American Interest has earned itself an Oops! Is my Lazy Showing? and the following Drunken Proofreading Rating:

*** (three stars) - I needed a shot just to look myself in the mirror this morning.


*It must be stated that in the interest of accuracy, and recognizing that we too can err in these matters, we did some research to make certain that this usage was indeed incorrect. While there are many and varied uses of the word break, we have now satisfied ourselves that this usage is improper, although we must confess that, after reading 122 definitions and uses, the word break no longer looks like a word at all. We invite you to read for yourself.