Bad newspaper mistake...

[Jens]

I'm not sure how this happened. But I was reading the Japan edition (in English) of the Herald Tribune (actually Asahi Shimbun / Herald Tribune), and there is a piece on Iran by somebody named Stanley Weiss. And there is a blurb summarizing the article, that reads, "A nuclear-armed Iran may be worrisome, but don't loose any business over it."

I wonder how that got in there...

[Jeff Root]

Probably by typing.

The real question is how most such mistakes manage to be caught.

Oh, and there's an error in the thread title. It should read "Relatively
minor and particularly difficult to catch" rather than "Bad".

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[Jens]

Oh, and there's an error in the thread title. It should read "Relatively
minor and particularly difficult to catch" rather than "Bad".


I don't know. Maybe my standards are too high, but I expect that newspapers should be flawless in terms of spelling. Plus, it's a common mistake that I think editors should be on the lookout for.

[Acolyte]

Ooh... is this going to turn into a 'how bad is journalist English?' thread? Should we have another one for just how bad the actual journalism is? *grins*

Jens, given the state of the Media, your standards are impossibly high. Investigative Journalism these days means 'look & see if there's another press release' & writing a piece for publication requires neither good spelling nor good phrasing. And leave grammar out of it all together.

EDIT: Actually that's a bit too tough on them - in Australia we have the ABC & SBS TV channels which do a remarkably good job of both presentation within normal bounds of good English AND a pretty decent job of investigative journalism.

[Gillianren]

This, boys and girls, is why there is generally a job called "copy editor," whose entire job is to catch simple, easy errors like "lose"/"loose."

[Maksutov]

This, boys and girls, is why there is generally a job called "copy editor," whose entire job is to catch simple, easy errors like "lose"/"loose."Yes, indeed.

Was one for the school newspaper. Caught a headline that would have read "Congratulari Football Team!" and an article about municipal activities that would have included "sever construction" for the local town's septic tank replacement project.

[Delvo]

Was one for the school newspaper. Caught a headline...Lost your subjects, had only predicates left.

[Maksutov]

Standard method for brief articles. Subject understood. Got it?

:)

[GeorgeLeRoyTirebiter]

Are there still working copy editors? I don't doubt the need for their services. It's just that judging by the quality of most printed materials and (especially) websites, I assumed there had been some terrible purge of copy editors a few decades ago, the scattered survivors going into seclusion, forsaking their use of proper spelling and punctuation in a desperate attempt to avoid detection.

[Moose]

Was one for the school newspaper. Caught a headline that would have read "Congratulari Football Team!"[...]

This headline would have been correct on Centauri Prime.

[Moose]

Are there still working copy editors? I don't doubt the need for their services. It's just that judging by the quality of most printed materials and (especially) websites, I assumed there had been some terrible purge of copy editors a few decades ago, the scattered survivors going into seclusion, forsaking their use of proper spelling and punctuation in a desperate attempt to avoid detection.

Microsoft Word is far cheaper than competence.

[mahesh]

Speaking of 'journalist English', a few days ago I came across an article, commenting on the US presidential race, headed: Who is going to be the best president....
Considering there are only two contenders, this is just amazing to see in print. I reckon the copy editor was on vacation.

[Jeff Root]

This, boys and girls, is why there is generally a job called "copy editor,"
whose entire job is to catch simple, easy errors like "lose"/"loose."
Simple and easy to make. Not simple and easy to catch reliably.
What I'm saying is that I doubt there are any words so short that
are easier to misspell and more difficult to catch. Lose/loose is
about as hard as they get, at that length.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[Jeff Root]

This seems like an appropriate thread in which to announce to the world
that I got 'laid' a few minutes ago while playing Word Yacht.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[Jeff Root]

Who is going to be the best president, but not before What serves a term.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[Maksutov]

This seems like an appropriate thread in which to announce to the world
that I got 'laid' a few minutes ago while playing Word Yacht.

-- Jeff, in MinneapolisCongratulari.

Was it good for you?

[Wear Protection!]

This seems like an appropriate thread in which to announce to the world
that I got 'laid' a few minutes ago while playing Word Yacht.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

Remember to use protection!

[jokergirl]

Speaking of bad journalism, I read a quip in one of our bigger newspapers about the recent stabbing in Akihabara, Tokyo.

The leader of the Swedish national Judo team was quoted to say "We were in the area... just coming out of a store. If we'd been a minute earlier we would have been right where it happened."
The whole thing was written as "Oh no, our sportsteam nearly got stabbed". I'm pretty sure what the captain meant was "If we'd been there a minute earlier, we might have been able to stop him."

;)

[Gillianren]

Are there still working copy editors? I don't doubt the need for their services. It's just that judging by the quality of most printed materials and (especially) websites, I assumed there had been some terrible purge of copy editors a few decades ago, the scattered survivors going into seclusion, forsaking their use of proper spelling and punctuation in a desperate attempt to avoid detection.

There are fewer and fewer paid copy editors; that is assuredly true. And it is, as mentioned, because of spell check and grammar check. The fact that spell check doesn't catch anything that's a real word and that grammar check is sometimes simply wrong doesn't seem to occur to anyone with the power to hire and fire copy editors.

And I can promise you that a good copy editor is on the lookout especially for such basic errors, simply because they're the ones that occur most often in a good writer's copy.

[Jens]

The whole thing was written as "Oh no, our sportsteam nearly got stabbed". I'm pretty sure what the captain meant was "If we'd been there a minute earlier, we might have been able to stop him."


I think it's hard to say. The guy drove into the crowd with a truck first, and being a Judo wrestler wouldn't necessarily help you much in that department.

[hhEb09'1]

Speaking of 'journalist English', a few days ago I came across an article, commenting on the US presidential race, headed: Who is going to be the best president....
Considering there are only two contenders, this is just amazing to see in print. I reckon the copy editor was on vacation.Were they only comparing two? Because there are a few more than two...

[Jens]

Speaking of 'journalist English', a few days ago I came across an article, commenting on the US presidential race, headed: Who is going to be the best president....
Considering there are only two contenders, this is just amazing to see in print. I reckon the copy editor was on vacation.

I'm sorry, but I don't really see what is wrong with it. I think it would be correct to say "Who would be the best president," since it's hypothetical at this point. Is there something else that's wrong?

[Moose]

I'm sorry, but I don't really see what is wrong with it. I think it would be correct to say "Who would be the best president," since it's hypothetical at this point. Is there something else that's wrong?

You would use the word "better" to describe that distinction between only two candidates. You need three or more before you can break out the word "best".

The inherently hypothetical nature of such a comparison has no bearing on the rules of grammar in play.

[jokergirl]

I guess mahesh meant it should have been which.
Though I personally think it's excusable. Not excusable is the bad excuse for journalism. Best in what, exactly? Best in fixing the economy? Best in lowering taxes? (those two are probably diametrically opposed) Best commanding officer? Best-dressed?

[Jens]

You would use the word "better" to describe that distinction between only two candidates. You need three or more before you can break out the word "best".

Ah ha. I guess I should forget that career in copy editing. :)

I'd still like to make the correction to "would". To me, saying "who will be the better president" sounds like both of them will become president. But maybe I'm wrong about that.

[Moose]

Yes, "would" would indeed be better in this case.

[mahesh]

Were they only comparing two? Because there are a few more than two...
Yes. And I realise, there were many candidates. 'contender' is my expression. I should've perhaps used 'nominees'.

I was taught: comparatives for two; superlatives for three or more.

So, it's irritating to see the use of best, in comparison 'twixt Messrs. McCain / Obama

jokergirl, use of 'which' would've made it worse! hope you are saying this in jest. now, where's my copy, what i wrote!

At the end of the day, there are only two nominees in the race. Any use of 'best', in that respect, is wrong.

Dumbed-down sloppy grammar.

and i am gonna impose this on you guys:
a bunch of cannibals, get hold of this guy and are getting him ready...
as they do this, they ask him what he did, 'jobwise'. he says i used to be an 'editor'.
oh! they say... pull him to one side, sit him, on this chair, and say : you can be our editor-in-chief

[Nadme]

If you think that's bad, check this out [was in "Odd News" section of Yahoo! last week]:

WESTLAKE, Ohio - A Cleveland-area principal says he's embarrassed his students got proof of their "educaiton" on their high school diplomas.

As if that's not bad enough:

Principal Timothy Freeman says he sent back the diplomas once to correct another error. When the diplomas came back, no one bothered to check things they thought were right the first time.

The publisher has reprinted the diplomas a second time and sent them to the 330 graduates.

Third time's the charm?? :rolleyes:

[mahesh]

Oh, H*Y*M*A*N* K*A*P*L*A*N!

How we love you! We do!

[NEOWatcher]

If you think that's bad, check this out [was in "Odd News" section of Yahoo! last week]:
and a whole thread in Baut (http://www.bautforum.com/off-topic-babbling/75100-getting-good-educaiton.html) last week too...:whistle:
(in case anyone wants links to stories...)