Ticking Off Hitchens

I do not often contribute to the Comments threads on blogs. Whether this is a character flaw or a virtue I am not sure. Probably it is sheer idleness. However, up bright and early this morning I turned to Peter Hitchens’ latest postage over at the Mail Online, and came upon this sentence:

Seeing several of [Mary Renault’s] books at bargain prices, I stuffed them in my backpack and began reading (as it happened) ‘The King Must Die’ as I waited for a delayed train on a country platform.

I could not let this pass without comment. So I commented:

Mr Hitchens : I really must take issue with your use of the word “backpack”. It ill becomes you. “Backpack” is a barbaric neologism used by young persons, often those on so-called “gap years”. In future, please ensure you use one of the three – yes, three! – acceptable alternatives, “rucksack”, “haversack”, or – my personal preference – “knapsack”.

These words of wisdom are awaiting moderation, but I hope to see them appear soon. Peter Hitchens is one of the few mainstream press bloggers who engages fully, indeed robustly, with his readers, so I also hope to see his grovelling mea culpa before too long.

4 thoughts on “Ticking Off Hitchens

  1. I’m still trying to work out if he paid for the books or just swiped them and if he then climbed into his knapsack to read them.

    O.S.M. B:52

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