GalacticCactus Forum

Author Topic: I hate journalistic writing  (Read 95368 times)

0 Members and 8 Guests are viewing this topic.

Offline Brinestone

  • Nerdkins
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 6,232
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #625 on: November 21, 2013, 04:57:03 PM »
That is a great play on the word.
Ephemerality is not binary. -Porter

Offline Tante Shvester

  • Souper Member
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 9,859
    • View Profile
    • About Tante
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #626 on: November 21, 2013, 09:45:20 PM »
You know, it really is.
Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
Sweet! Law of Moses loopholes! -- Anneke
I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline BlackBlade

  • Deadbeat Dad
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 6,029
  • Gifs are all lies.
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #627 on: November 23, 2013, 09:17:24 AM »
That was awesome.
Kyrgyzstan, is the homeland of the Kyrgyzs, a people best known for cheating at Scrabble. -Tante Shvester

What, you expected us to be badly injured or dead, and flying blind to boot? You're the one who told us all to be Awesome. -Brinestone

Offline pooka

  • hover bear
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,852
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #628 on: December 22, 2013, 07:47:34 PM »
"Obama hopes for trouble - free hawaii vacation"

It is an en dash, but just imagine if you got that one wrong. 
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his work."  Comte de Saint-Simon

Online Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,649
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #629 on: December 23, 2013, 09:13:10 AM »
It should just be a hyphen, not an en dash.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline pooka

  • hover bear
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 18,852
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #630 on: December 23, 2013, 12:18:03 PM »
Oh.  My keyboard just has one button that serves as either.
"From each according to his ability, to each according to his work."  Comte de Saint-Simon

Online Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,649
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #631 on: December 23, 2013, 12:47:27 PM »
Yeah, keyboards don't have keys for dashes. You have to use some unwieldy combination like Alt+0150 to get an en dash on a Windows machine.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Online Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,649
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #632 on: January 27, 2014, 11:57:50 AM »
"Onewheel Is One Wheel Away From Being a Hoverboard"

No, it's not. As one commenter put it, it's one wheel away from being a board on the ground.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline Nighthawk

  • The White Rabbit
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,812
  • "Omne ignotum pro magnifico"
    • View Profile
    • Walk in the Dark
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #633 on: January 27, 2014, 05:39:04 PM »
Yeah, keyboards don't have keys for dashes. You have to use some unwieldy combination like Alt+0150 to get an en dash on a Windows machine.

I hate that Word changes my hyphens to dashes automatically. I keep forgetting to hunt that feature down and kill it with fire.
"When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer..."

Offline Tante Shvester

  • Souper Member
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 9,859
    • View Profile
    • About Tante
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #634 on: January 27, 2014, 09:24:26 PM »
I never care.
Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
Sweet! Law of Moses loopholes! -- Anneke
I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline rivka

  • Linguistic Anarchist
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,099
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #635 on: January 27, 2014, 10:46:11 PM »
I greatly appreciate that feature and use it deliberately often.
"Sometimes you need a weirdo to tell you that things have gotten weird. Your normal friends, neighbors, and coworkers won’t tell you."
-Aaron Kunin

Offline dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #636 on: March 01, 2014, 12:51:48 PM »
Quote
Stahre has an answer to Jackman's question: The state examined the mothers' medical records, which revealed, among other things, the women's home addresses.

By the address, epidemiologists can learn a mother's water source, whether she lives near an agricultural area and whether she took folic acid early in pregnancy, which helps prevent neural tube defects.

Offline Tante Shvester

  • Souper Member
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 9,859
    • View Profile
    • About Tante
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #637 on: March 01, 2014, 06:39:19 PM »
No one in my old neighborhood ever took folic acid early in pregnancy.  It just wasn't the thing to do.  Over on the north side of town, however, everyone took the stuff, all the time.
Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
Sweet! Law of Moses loopholes! -- Anneke
I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #638 on: March 08, 2014, 08:05:00 AM »
MBI shuts down Orlando spa that sits between two churches accused of selling sex

Part of me thinks this kind of thing has to be on purpose because someone thinks it's funny.

Online Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,649
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #639 on: March 08, 2014, 08:51:20 AM »
Oh dear.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline Tante Shvester

  • Souper Member
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 9,859
    • View Profile
    • About Tante
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #640 on: March 08, 2014, 06:38:22 PM »
Since they can't sell indulgences any more, they needed to find something they could sell to raise funds.
Fighting thread drift with guilt, reverse psychology, and chicken soup.
Sweet! Law of Moses loopholes! -- Anneke
I love Bones.  -- Sweet Clementine
She grew on him like she was a colony of E. coli and he was room-temperature Canadian beef. -- anonymous

Offline Nighthawk

  • The White Rabbit
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,812
  • "Omne ignotum pro magnifico"
    • View Profile
    • Walk in the Dark
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #641 on: March 31, 2014, 07:32:59 AM »


Dear Digg: No. Not even close.
"When Alexander saw the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer..."

Offline Annie Subjunctive

  • Hausfrau
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 10,921
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #642 on: April 05, 2014, 03:03:56 PM »
Looks like it's a bit taller than the Eiffel Tower. Which is even scarier. They should have said that.
"It is true, however, that the opposite of Little Rock, Arkansas is Boulder, Colorado." - Tante

Online Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,649
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #643 on: April 05, 2014, 03:46:37 PM »
A bit taller? It's almost 70 percent taller.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Online Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,649
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #644 on: April 16, 2014, 09:24:54 AM »
From Daily Kos:

Quote
So a neighbor outraged a taker dare get a bit of rest in her neghborhood called the police in order to have them remove the unsightly vagrant from her neghborhood. [spelling sic]

And here's a blog post explaining what it means.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline rivka

  • Linguistic Anarchist
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 14,099
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #645 on: April 17, 2014, 12:02:16 AM »
 :wacko:
"Sometimes you need a weirdo to tell you that things have gotten weird. Your normal friends, neighbors, and coworkers won’t tell you."
-Aaron Kunin

Offline Brinestone

  • Nerdkins
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 6,232
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #646 on: April 17, 2014, 07:59:57 AM »
It took me about five reads, but I got there, I think. I haven't followed the link yet, but it's:

So a neighbor ([who was] outraged [that] a taker [would] dare [to] get a bit of rest in her neighborhood) called the police . . .

Right?
Ephemerality is not binary. -Porter

Offline Brinestone

  • Nerdkins
  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 6,232
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #647 on: April 17, 2014, 08:02:33 AM »
Okay, read the link, and yeah, I got it right. But the first sentence is weird too. I didn't understand at first that their referred to a church. Why not its?
Ephemerality is not binary. -Porter

Online Jonathon

  • Evil T-Rex
  • Administrator
  • Übermember
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,649
  • This is the darkest timeline
    • View Profile
    • GalacticCactus
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #648 on: April 17, 2014, 08:13:57 AM »
It's not uncommon to refer to companies and organizations with they, but in this case it doesn't seem to work well. I think it's because they're talking about the church as a building, not really as an organization.
You underestimate my ability to take things seriously!

Offline dkw

  • Super Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1,016
    • View Profile
Re: I hate journalistic writing
« Reply #649 on: April 17, 2014, 10:22:41 AM »
I had no trouble understanding that sentence on the first read.  I'm not sure what that says about me. Probably nothing good.