LANGUAGE CORNER
‘Between...and’ not
‘Between...to’
John Luke, a freelance writer and editor in Sierra Madre, Calif., sent this complaint:
"For years, I've been grinding my teeth when radio journalists say things like 'between seventy to eighty people were seen sliding down the rope.' I want to respond by telling them they're putting me between a rock to a hard place. You don't see this in print much, but it's all over radio news, even on the high-quality stations."
Mr. Luke is right, of course; "between" takes "and," not "to," and the people who make him grind his teeth belong where they've been putting him.
Addendum, 5/25/99
It happens in print, too; from a newspaper front page: "...stole
design information about America's most advanced warhead, the
W-88, between 1984 to 1988."
