Reading today's "Independent" I came across a term that really annoys me - ex-pat. What the hell is an ex-pat - a renegade Irishman? The intended word is expatriate, someone living in a country other than their own. OK? Some time ago this word was shortened, God knows why, to expat. Then came ex-pat, presumably after the press decided they didn't need to pay sub-editors. This was followed by the back-formation 'ex-patriot'. I've seen both of these examples of slovenly writing and checking in the press. It seems that the Independent, a supposed 'quality' paper, has standards as indifferent as those of the tabloids.