Does Beer Pong Need Scare Quotes?

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Really, Associated Press? From a story about stickers that are attached to “nuisance” houses in Narraganset, Rhode Island:

The police, meanwhile, have continued to distribute the stickers while the court case continues, including one last month for an underage keg party involving a game of “beer pong.”

Does beer pong really require scare quotes? I asked our esteemed copy editor, Nicole McClelland. “Absolutely not,” she says. “Beer pong is totally legit, and therefore needs neither quotes nor introduction. It’s not in the dictionary yet, but soon, my friend, soon.”

There you have it. Come on now, AP.

 

Fact:

Mother Jones was founded as a nonprofit in 1976 because we knew corporations and billionaires wouldn't fund the type of hard-hitting journalism we set out to do.

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

Fact:

Today, reader support makes up about two-thirds of our budget, allows us to dig deep on stories that matter, and lets us keep our reporting free for everyone. If you value what you get from Mother Jones, please join us with a tax-deductible donation today so we can keep on doing the type of journalism 2024 demands.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate