Follow-Up: Throwing Down the Gauntlet

If there’s one thing we know about Highway 1 readers, it’s that they are sticklers for detail. (Don’t remind us of the time we referred to the V-6 engines in BMW’s new 3-Series sedans, when in fact the engineers at the venerable German marque were sticking with their tried-and-true lineup of inline-6s. Needless to say, our error did not go unnoticed.)

What prompts this observation now is our Jan. 5 headline “Vehicles Run the Gantlet at Consumer Reports.” One fax-sending lawyer, one letter-writing retired junior college teacher and no doubt many others who chose to remain silent all questioned our use of the G-word.

In fact, the Los Angeles Times stylebook notes: “A gantlet is a flogging ordeal, literally or figuratively. A person may run a gantlet. A gauntlet is a glove. To throw down the gauntlet means to issue a challenge. To take up the gauntlet means to accept a challenge.”

The Times’ preferred dictionary--Webster’s New World, Third College Edition--offers a similar distinction between “gantlet” and “gauntlet,” and thus we stand by our headline writer’s usage.

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