A Facebook friend of mine posted this today:

“Jane Doe” via Mary: ‘The true soldier fights not because they hate what is in front of them, but because they love what is behind them.’ ~G. K. Chesterton

Except here’s what Chesterton really said:

  “The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.”

Leave aside how puerile is the longstanding move to “pejoratize” the synecdochic masculine pronoun.  On this Memorial Day, besides remembering he who’s served — the brave man or woman — can’t we also remember that quotation marks mean something?