Author Topic: I hate journalistic writing (Read 100468 times)

pooka · « **Reply #75 on:** June 26, 2007, 07:14:30 AM »

I saw a funny headline today:

"Albino Mountain Goat Spotted for First Time Ever"

The "first time ever" probably takes it from basic irony to delicious. Unless it was deliberate. Then it's cheap.

Jonathon · « **Reply #76 on:** June 26, 2007, 07:51:19 AM »

I don't get it.

pooka · « **Reply #77 on:** June 26, 2007, 09:52:24 AM »

Albino :: Spotted

Jonathon · « **Reply #78 on:** June 26, 2007, 10:18:22 AM »

Aha. It was just a little too subtle for me this morning.

JT · « **Reply #79 on:** June 26, 2007, 10:56:45 AM »

One of my friends sent me a link to an architect's website. Pretty professionally done, nice page, good pictures, and a glaring grammatical error in one of the four main menu items.

Home
Portfolio
Designer Bio's
About Us

>.<

dkw · « **Reply #80 on:** June 26, 2007, 02:56:39 PM »

Perhaps they meant it as a contraction.

JT · « **Reply #81 on:** June 26, 2007, 05:15:37 PM »

A contraction with what as the second word?

pooka · « **Reply #82 on:** June 27, 2007, 07:30:02 AM »

I pointed out a spelling error on a website at a company where I was temping. One guy was very impressed and said in an offhand way that the development department ought to hire me, but it was his last week, and nothing really came of that.

Oh, they were talking about a chef's flare for cooking.

Anyway, they didn't ever fix it.

Websites are often made by marketing type people, and sometimes marketing type people think editing type people are boring old killjoys.

Farmgirl · « **Reply #83 on:** June 27, 2007, 10:15:17 AM »

Our marketing department "owns" the company intranet site (is responsible for all content) and they hate me because I always point out all their spelling/gramatical errors. But hey - I figure I get here early -- if I catch it early and they change it, fewer people will know they made a mistake...

FG

pooka · « **Reply #84 on:** June 27, 2007, 10:32:09 AM »

I guess there are variants of grammatical rectitude, much as exist on the moral plane. Some people imagine there are folks who never make mistakes, rather than realizing everyone makes mistakes and the point is how fast one corrects the problem. So they take notice of an error as condemnation, I suppose. It's just a thought. There may even be something about the relationship between the perception of language and morality in my "Language and Authority" book. If I ever think of looking at it when I'm there.

rivka · « **Reply #85 on:** June 27, 2007, 04:16:13 PM »

Quote

Oh, they were talking about a chef's flare for cooking.

Gotta watch out for that faulty burner!

pooka · « **Reply #86 on:** June 28, 2007, 02:42:41 AM »

I was thinking more of a safety flare, you know, to brown that Creme Brulee to perfection.

Porter · « **Reply #87 on:** June 28, 2007, 04:36:13 PM »

Quote

First successful gene transplant a success

[/url]

*raises hand*

Was it the first one?

Nighthawk · « **Reply #88 on:** June 28, 2007, 06:26:35 PM »

I tore two things out of yesterday's Miami Herald, Broward FINAL Edition.

1) Front page Sports section, underneath a picture of... someone... there's this:

Quote

PHOTOG HERE/CREDIT HERE

BOLD INTRO: Cutline goes here.m aoiga oeg ioae goa egioae goiage ia geiae goa egioa ieg aoigeaoie goiae goia ogei.

2) The chess problem is incorrect.

Porter · « **Reply #89 on:** July 18, 2007, 12:48:05 PM »

Shark bites diver in the fjord.

o_O

Tante Shvester · « **Reply #90 on:** July 18, 2007, 12:54:16 PM »

A Møøse once bit my sister

Porter · « **Reply #91 on:** July 18, 2007, 12:59:38 PM »

Exactly.

Jonathon · « **Reply #92 on:** July 18, 2007, 01:08:51 PM »

Quote

Shark bites diver in the fjord.

o_O

Can they even print that?

Porter · « **Reply #93 on:** July 24, 2007, 08:50:08 PM »

Corn dogs climate scientists

pooka · « **Reply #94 on:** July 25, 2007, 05:53:55 AM »

Jonathon · « **Reply #95 on:** July 26, 2007, 03:07:05 PM »

*groan*

Jonathon · « **Reply #96 on:** August 01, 2007, 08:01:06 AM »

Oh, my head. Why do journalists have to be so stupid? Why do they have such a poor understanding of language mechanics, even though they often fancy themselves as language experts and language defenders? Why does nobody know what "active" and "passive" really mean anymore?

link

Some new research has shown that reading about actions stimulates activity in the motor cortex. Some journalists have jumped all over this and taken it to mean that there is a neurological basis for the idea writing in the active voice is good while writing in the passive voice is bad.

action ? verb
action verb ? verb in the active voice
no activity in the motor cortex ? evidence of bad writing

rivka · « **Reply #97 on:** August 01, 2007, 08:32:08 AM »

pooka · « **Reply #98 on:** August 06, 2007, 04:53:56 PM »

Quote

. In 1988, Hurricane Gilbert, one of the most powerful hurricanes in history, set back Jamaica's economy by three years.

That was in the wiki article on the Bermuda Triangle. Talk about suspending the laws of physics!

Porter · « **Reply #99 on:** August 07, 2007, 11:18:04 PM »

Why I think that we should just let journalists run everything.