Letter of the Day (May 14): The White House, anthropomorphized

Use of journalistic shorthand is, shall we say, distracting.

May 13, 2014 at 11:32PM
The South Lawn and the White House are seen from the 500-foot level of the Washington Monument in Washington, Monday, May 12, 2014, as it re-opens. The monument, which sustained damage from an earthquake in August 2011, reopened to the public today. (AP Photo) ORG XMIT: MIN2014051314333942
The South Lawn and the White House are seen from the 500-foot level of the Washington Monument in Washington, Monday, May 12, 2014, as it re-opens. The monument, which sustained damage from an earthquake in August 2011, reopened to the public today. (AP Photo) ORG XMIT: MIN2014051314333942 (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The May 7 article "Climate change isn't coming — it's already here, report warns" used the phrase "the White House, which released the report …"

I've visited the White House in Washington, D.C., a couple of times, and I never saw or heard it doing anything but just quietly, majestically sitting there. In fact, none of our houses have released any reports, but some of them would moan and groan when they had to withstand a 50-mile-per-hour wind or 10 inches of snow on their roofs. Also, some of them had squeaky floor boards. We all have had these experiences, but no one I know has heard of a house releasing a report.

John McCulloch, Eden Prairie
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