• The Awl, Thursday, June 10, 2010 1:50 PM

Twitter has no doubt left its mark on the cultural psyche. But, in what seems like a belated effort, The New York Times is drawing a line at the popular use of the word "tweet." Phil Corbett, standards editor at the Times, just issued a memo asking that writers abstain from using the past-tense, "and other weird iterations of the magical noun-verb 'Twitter,'" according to The Awl.

"Some social-media fans may disagree, but outside of ornithological contexts, 'tweet' has not yet achieved the status of standard English," explains Corbett. "And standard English is what we should use in news articles." Moreover, "Except for special effect, we try to avoid colloquialisms, neologisms and jargon. And 'tweet' -- as a noun or a verb, referring to messages on Twitter -- is all three." In its place, Corbett -- perhaps half-joking -- suggests: "How About "Chirp"?

Read the whole story at The Awl »