Maybe it’s because I spent too much of my early adulthood listening to suburban relatives complain about New York City, which was then and is now my home. Maybe it’s because too many people I’ve met on my travels through small towns ask me whether I’ve been mugged, once they learn that I am from New York City. Regardless of the reason, a tagline on public radio really hit me in the gut. With the name changed to protect the innocent, here is what a smooth, sophisticated voice announced this morning on NPR: “Two thirds of diabetics live in cities. Big Drug Company is working to change that.”
Come again? Are they handing out coupons for discount relocation services? Lining up vans at clinics? Hop on. Leave the city! Your blood sugar will be normal again! Is that what Big Drug Company is saying?
The more likely explanation, of course, is that whoever writes for Big Drug Company is grammatically challenged when it comes to pronouns, not an urbanophobe (a term I just made up). That should refer to one noun (either singular or plural), not to a clause such as two thirds of diabetics live in cities. Even when you untangle the grammar, Big Drug Company’s message is still unclear. Has the company sent representatives with insulin pumps to crowded areas? Are employees standing on street corners, waiting to take your blood like some sort of urban vampire squad? Or is Big Drug Company placing posters in subways, urging people to take Big Drug Company’s health advice (and buy its products)? Their contribution to public radio apparently wasn’t enough to buy time for more details.
To be fair to Big Drug Company (not to mention public radio), I must admit that pronouns attract errors the way spilled syrup draws flies. I often see sentences resembling this one: “George told his brother that he was an idiot.” What do you think happened next? Did the brother land a punch on George’s nose, screaming, “How dare you insult me?” Perhaps the brother threw his arms around George and said, “You’re too hard on yourself, Bro. You aren’t an idiot. You’re just stupid.” The vague pronoun he leaves you wondering.
Wondering, like diabetes, drug companies, and interpersonal fights, is not a good idea. I think we should work, as Big Drug Company says, “to change that.”
I’ll let you decide what that is.