Linguistic Quibbles...

I think we all have our linguistic quibbles - those turns of phrase that just annoy us right down to the very core.

The latest one I've run into is the increasingly frequent use by MSM of the phrase "shot to death".

In the kindest interpretation, I can but ask if the speaker or writer in question failed to acquire even a basic exposure to grammar or simply possesses absolutely no sense of literary grace. Given that these are members of the main stream media, the primary "linguistic authority figure" to which many adults are exposed, it is reasonable to expect a certain grace and familiarity with common usage in their utterances - as opposed to such a painfully kludgy usage.

More cynically, one might ask what purpose is served by singling out homicides committed with firearms for description with such specificity...and leaving most other homicides more generically described or traditionally described.

Either way, it is a most kludgy usage and must be ridiculed!