I’m so sick of the relatively new practice in which documentary films feature people talking about past events in the present tense. For example: “ER goes to India and is profoundly struck by the spirituality of the people.” That is stupid. End of story. And the problem is, it’s become all-pervasive—almost like the newscaster inflection (regardless of region) and the “word” irregardless. People affect their speech to make themselves seem more intelligent and immediate, at the expense of the proper phrase constructions, grammar and what’s “right.”