Archive for the ‘Language’ Category
Human editors matter
Google News picks up a grisly story from Reuters and gets bitten by its computerized presentation:
Here’s the headline:
Body of missing Brooklyn boy found in freezer, trash
Here’s the caption Google News automatically generated, because Reuters includes a picture-of-the-day feature on its story pages:
A host of new surveys don’t paint a pretty picture for many small businesses. Uncertainty about the economy, slow retail sales and high commodity prices have small business owners in the dumps this summer.
There’s no one to blame for this, really. But it does illustrate, tastelessly and uncomfortably, that it will be a long time — perhaps not in my lifetime — before human editors are totally dispensable.
Agree or disagree? Will computers some day be able to completely replace us? Let me know in the comments.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists (Cont’d)
Rule No. 21: We believe the word “alleged” has magical, lawyer-killing powers.
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists (Cont’d)
Rule No. 20: When we write that someone is “controversial,” we mean we believe he’s up to something but we can’t print it. (contributed by Lex Alexander)
The Reader’s Guide to Journalists (Cont’d)
Rule No. 19: If the slug or the budgetline includes the word “adorable,” it probably isn’t news.
Grammar Day: ‘Correct’ and ‘proper’ aren’t the same thing
In honor of National Grammar Day, I’m republishing this post from 2011:
National Grammar Day (as proclaimed by the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar) started in March 2008, almost exactly two years after Jack Dorsey sent the first tweet on Twitter.
Putting those events in the same sentence isn’t a non sequitur. Grammar isn’t a simple system, but it’s easy to reduce beliefs about “correct” grammar to simple cris de coeur that fit snugly in Twitter’s 140-character limit. The #language hashtag is an active one, and much of the traffic blares its horns at a misspelling or a grammatical offense that has slipped through to publication. I’ve certainly sped along in its fast lane — #language is littered with my own objections and funny-to-me observations.
Debates over grammar are like debates over the existence of God or what region is home to the best barbecue*. We all have firmly held beliefs, and what makes the debates so fun is that all of us are right and all of us are wrong.
Why proofreading still matters: Search Warrant Typo Frees Drug Dealer
“A convicted drug dealer serving 29 years for drug dealing and weapons charges will be set free because of a small mistake on a search warrant.
“According to the criminal court of appeals, a typo or clerical error invalidates the entire search warrant. …
“Tennessee state law does not provide for an error on a search warrant — even if it was made in good faith, even if it’s a typo.”
Full story (WSMV-TV of Nashville, Tenn.)
Greatest. Name. Ever.
Gene Weingarten of The Washington Post, the Best Feature Writer in America®, collects what he calls aptonyms — people whose names describe what they do.
Gene, meet George.
George Wham.
He’s an expert on — wait for it — impact-related head injuries.
Full story (WIS-TV of Columbia, S.C.)
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Edukashun, edukashun, edukashun
Newly painted outside Southern Guilford High School in Guilford County, N.C. (via WXII-TV of Winston-Salem)
By Bill O'Neil
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Apostrophes aren’t really that difficult
Eek, Aug. 4, 2010
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Alex Johnson - Journalist at Large 