Get your vocabulary right, you Big Appler!

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(If you haven't responded to Tolker's post yet, do that first. I just had to get this off my chest now, while I'm still annoyed.)

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I am currently reading Miss Misery by Andy Greenwald and it's a good read so far. He's a good writer (even if he shares an irritating habit with that other good writer, Ben) and the book is interesting so far. But I'm pissed off about something.

I knew from reading the bookflap that one of the characters was a girl from Salt Lake. Then, in the opening pages, that girl said this:

"It felt like when I went to temple with my parents when I was still too little to start hating it and I believed whatever I heard there came directly from a higher power."

So then I thought oh cool, a Salt Lake Jew. That is New and Interesting.

Dozens of pages later I learned that her parents intend a BYUcentric future for her and I realized that no, she's Mormon, just this Greenwald yahoo didn't even bother to do a simple google to see if he had his vocabulary straight.

Oh, I find that annoying.

I don't have anything against people writing Mormon characters, but I expect them to be Mormon. Is that too much to ask?

Because I belong to a much-screwed-up religion, I may be extra sensitive to this. But whatever the reason, I am sensitive and I try hard not to make mistakes like suggesting Mormon kids "go to temple." For instance, in my current project, I have a Nazarene character and she mentions seeing her pastor/minister/whatever. I'm not sure. But you can be sure I'll consult Google to find out what the heck that guy's called before anyone else reads it. Fortunately, we don't see the any scenes where they get churchy, so my research can end there. But if we did, I would make every effort to make my Nazarene readership feel like I had done my homework. Ideally that I must be a Nazarene myself.

Grrrrrr.....

I hope you're all doing your homework....

Love,

Theric