Folks, sometimes when we try to sound smart, we show how stupid we really are. Case in point: The 40-ish guy on one of the house hunting TV shows. He and his wife were looking for a house in the $1.5 million range in Belize. When they made their choice, the man was extolling its virtues. Wanting, I suppose, to point out the best feature, he said "And as the coup d'etat, . . . "

Really? The coup d'etat, huh? I realize that Belize is in the Caribbean, but aren't the days of coup d'etats in banana republics gone? And if not, why are you spending $1.5 million in a country whose government was just overthrown by the military? More important, how did someone stupid enough to use "coup d'etat" instead of "coup de grace" ever earn enough money to buy a f---ing $1.5 million house?

Today's lesson -- There is no justice; the stupid have inherited the earth. Those of us who learned to speak and to write properly, safe in the knowledge that our erudition would earn us good jobs (and, of course, the rewaqrds that go with them), can wail and gnash our teeth while the dipshits laugh all the way to the bank. Sob!

Next time, I'll wax furious at the increasingly popular practice of turning nouns into verbs.