AUSTRALIAN CRIME REPORTING v. English as she is spoke

Just a few notes, addressed to The Media:

(1) OK, here's the thing: at some point, the phrase "shot dead" tripped and fell head first into the Media-way, and - instead of driving over it until it was just a grease stain - the media pulled over, picked it up and took it home. "The woman was shot dead" - NO! Gah.

Look, it's not hard: has anyone ever been "stabbed dead", or "drowned dead", or "beaten dead", or "suffocated dead"? NO! Because that implies that the person was ALREADY DEAD, and *then* was shot/stabbed/beaten/suffocated. The phrase you want, Media, is "shot and killed".

(2) This one is far rarer, but it made the mistake of crossing my path soon after an instance of (1): "a man was killed today in Melbourne, after being hit by a train." Now, that right there? THAT is a bad day. First he gets hit by a train, and then later he is killed! That is one unlucky guy.

<\rant>

UK: medical fail, typo win

The complete removal of a UK woman's stomach, to remove what was believed to be a cancerous tumour, turns out to have been unnecessary; pathology confirmed the mass was benign.

A very sad story, I hear you say, if perhaps a little off-topic? Ah, yes - but wait, there's more.

In the article, we have this gem, a textbook case of an accidentally humorous typo:

An undisclosed payment will be used to finance care and support for the remainder of the woman...

Prepositional Hypotension

"He couldn't remember the last time he had cried. He hadn't even cried on his mother's deathbed."

-- Preston & Child, Gideon's Corpse

Why/how was he on his mother's deathbed? You can only be ON your own deathbed - you are AT someone else's.

Whe&apos;re soo hapy too cee yu!

Why do professionals still allow this nonsense on their websites? This was the response I got after signing up for a 2-hour course on website-building (since I'm clearly not using my domain name); problems with "wohoo", "your" (1st reference) and "put".

Seriously. People. If your material looks like it was written by a dyslexic kindergartener, anyone reading it automatically winces at it and is less likely to use your services.

Stop it.

Copy Editing Is Crucial

Dear DailyMail.co.uk [but take note, other media outlets]

Copy editing is seen by many media organisations as a low-ranking and slightly demeaning position, and I'd really like it to be taken more seriously.

For example, the attached screenshot. Initially I had NO idea what word you were aiming for here, but does "clammed" mean "slammed"? Unless your copy editors are non-English-speakers - and at times I believe they must be - there's simply no excuse for this to get past the keeper.

Poxy HTML code

If anyone knows how to fix this issue with the apostrophes, please get in touch. New Blogger app not doing so hot, may have to go back to BlogPress.

Apostrophe&apos;s &apos;Should Not Be U&apos;sed In Front Of Every &apos;S

Ack. All I can see is the awful randomly placed apostrophe; "words", plural, should not have one.

See The Oatmeal's excellent summary of the rules of usage.

Y&apos;all

Why is it that the same people who invented the word "y'all", being short for "you all", insist on spelling it "ya'll", being short for...?

Reporting typos to the US government...

...makes me feel like I should be doing it from an encrypted disposable mobile or something.

Anyway, I sent this email to ICE:

Re the page, "Do I need to apply for ESTA?", the last paragraph starts with, "Is it important" (query), when I believe it should say, "It is important" (instruction).

"Note: Is it important to PRINT a copy of the document for your records. The printout is not required upon arrival into the United States, as the officers have the information electronically. Some airlines require the printout upon check-in, please check with your respective airline."