I Need Help

People often tell me I need help for a variety of reasons, but one in particular keeps rearing its ugly head. I know there are much bigger issues that deserve my righteous indignation, but I can’t help but have a mini melt-down whenever I see the “d” or “ed” carelessly dropped from adjectives. This perversion of the English language makes me want to cover my eyes before the error takes up permanent residence in my brain. But I’m often driving when I see the missing “d,” so I usually resort to just screaming loud enough to wake up the other slightly drooling people in the drive-thru (which is how AP Style says to spell it) or drive-through (if you believe Merriam-Webster instead).

Earlier today, there it was again when I pulled up and barked my order for a chicken sandwich – the biggest “d drop” offender of them all, at least in the South – “ice tea.” I’ve always thought it was “iced tea,” unless you happen to be writing about the American rapper-turned-actor, Ice-T.

After pulling out of the drive–thru back onto Hwy. 74, I got behind a U-Haul (at least YouTube knew how to spell “you"). This orange and white facilitator of a horizontally or downwardly mobile society boasted that it “holds a queen size bed.” Shouldn’t it be queen-sized bed? Or maybe even “queen bed” if you want to avoid the “d” issue altogether?

When I got home, I started worrying that maybe I didn’t know my iced tea from a hole in the ground, so I put “Strunk and White” into my favorite search engine. As fate, karma and SEO would have it, I got a page for “The Strunk and White Homeboys Tote Bag by CafePress. The promotional copy below this enticing item used the words “ice tea machines.” Oh, Strunk! Oh, White! Oh, anybody! Please help me by sharing your insights, rules and ramblings about the “d” dilemma.

Also, what about wax paper? That’s how the leading brand’s box reads, but I always thought it should be “waxed paper.”