The dumbest Stuff or Herald headlines (& other news media)

Forums › Off topic › The dumbest Stuff or Herald headlines (& other news media)

1 | ... | 183 | 184 | 185 | 186 | 187 | 188 | 189 | 190 | 191 | 192 | 193 | ... | 290

10504 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2906332 25-Apr-2022 12:40

Rikkitic:

As standards slip people become accustomed to more and more sloppiness until they no longer know what is incorrect and you can no longer be 100% certain that what you think you understand is actually what is intended. Rules of grammar exist for a reason. They are important. Especially the basic ones.

It certainly doesn't help that reporters try to be trendy and end up using words that mean the opposite of what they're trying to say. One I've seen a lot recently is "supplier drops product", meaning a new iteration of the product has been released (like a "supply drop"), as opposed to discontinued. I suspect it's a clickbait technique: You need to click through to the article to find out which meaning they're using.

floydbloke

3522 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

#2906338 25-Apr-2022 13:20

Jase2985:

...

there may be something slightly wrong with them but i 100% understand what the headline is saying in the way it is said, as i expect do you.

That's not the point, I'm with Geektastic on this one.

Typos, spelling and grammar errors in forum and Facebook posts etc. are usually fine by me. (Although the troll in me may occasionally reply with a smartarse comment.)

Not so for mainstream media websites. If they want to be respected and trusted then correctness in basic spelling and grammar is a must for me.

Did Eric Clapton really think she looked wonderful...or was it after the 15th outfit she tried on and he just wanted to get to the party and get a drink?

1024kb

1167 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Lifetime subscriber

#2906435 25-Apr-2022 13:52

Journalists, as the writers of the most commonly-read daily information, carry the responsibility of maintaining the standards of language - whether they realize it or not. It's actually their editor who carries the final responsibility, but the journalist shouldn't need to have their output re-written so that it makes sense. When your words are read by hundreds of thousands of people every day, then your responsibilities include making sure that they're truthful, ethically-sourced, bias-free & presented according to the rules of the language you're using.

When I held the editor's role, we (journalist, senior writer, sub-editor & myself) would inoccasionally have vigourous argument in my office over both logical & lexical semantics - to ensure that we published correctly-written articles. Anyone who argues vigourously has to care about the subject - there's a personal investment, a passion involved - whether it's All Blacks, politics or lexical semantics being argued. I promoted the discussions because after all the opinions were said & done, it was my name listed on Page 1 as editor & that made the publication my responsibility. This was just a popular culture magazine & although influential had far less readership than Stuff or NZ Herald.

I am quite sure that there has never been a discussion of similar nature happen at Stuff or Herald HQ. The passion just doesn't exist in those organizations any more - not only does the passion not exist, they do not realize that it ever did.

Megabyte - so geek it megahertz

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79263 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#2909154 2-May-2022 08:52

Not the headline, but a couple of sentences in the article "Taika Waititi visits Waimangu Volcanic Valley over long weekend". I put in bold the stupid:

"Taika Waititi paid a "completely unexpected" visit to a Rotorua tourist hotspot over the weekend and has shared the experience on social media with his millions of followers."

Oh, whoa. How interesting. Social media followers.

"Throughout the video series, he joked and told followers to like, comment, and subscribe."

So just like any other YouTube or Instagram influencer then?

The rest of the article is the marketing people for the places he visited commenting on how great is to have a celebrity posting about their tourist attraction.

elpenguino

3421 posts

Uber Geek

#2909157 2-May-2022 09:02

if there's one thing I hate about the modern world it's the begging for likes and subscribes.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

eracode

Smpl Mnmlst
8849 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#2909164 2-May-2022 09:09

elpenguino:

if there's one thing I hate about the modern world it's the begging for likes and subscribes.

Well, I gave you a +1 anyway - just 'coz. 😀

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

elpenguino

3421 posts

Uber Geek

#2909180 2-May-2022 09:44

eracode:

elpenguino:

if there's one thing I hate about the modern world it's the begging for likes and subscribes.

Well, I gave you a +1 anyway - just 'coz. 😀

Thanks and because of your +1 and my recent comment I'm deeply confused about how to feel now.

Most of the posters in this thread are just like chimpanzees on MDMA, full of feelings of bonhomie, joy, and optimism. Fred99 8/4/21

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79263 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#2909191 2-May-2022 10:13

Influencer!

Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2909675 3-May-2022 15:13

From Stuff:

“On Tuesday 11:06am, the falling rocket booster was caught mid-air by a Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, which weighed 7 tons and was about the size of a school bus.”

I presume the helicopter still weighs that and is still the same size? Use of the past tense implies it does not however.

But in fact, does it? This from the caption of a photo of said helicopter in the same article:

“The helicopter used in the mission was a Sikorsky S-92, which weighed 70 tons and was roughly size of a school bus.”

Dingbatt

6755 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2909684 3-May-2022 15:28

Sky News Australia’s headline was “NZ Team Fumbles and Drops Booster”. I guess if it had been an Aussie endeavour then it would have been “Aussie hero Pilot, catches, tags and releases rocket booster in world first”.

“We’ve arranged a society based on science and technology, in which nobody understands anything about science technology. Carl Sagan 1996

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18659 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2909687 3-May-2022 15:36

Why does a NZ news site use an Americanised example to describe the helicopter to a NZ readership? We don't have 'school buses' as such, just busses used for school. A 'school bus' usually means one of those yellow things like the one Otto drives in The Simpsons. I get just a little tiny wee bit annoyed at American culture creep here.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

Geektastic

17943 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#2909737 3-May-2022 15:52

Rikkitic:
Why does a NZ news site use an Americanised example to describe the helicopter to a NZ readership? We don't have 'school buses' as such, just busses used for school. A 'school bus' usually means one of those yellow things like the one Otto drives in The Simpsons. I get just a little tiny wee bit annoyed at American culture creep here.

The density difference between two school bus sized helicopters, one of which is 7 tonnes and the other of which is 70, is also significant !

Technofreak

6530 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2909844 3-May-2022 20:54

Rikkitic:

Why does a NZ news site use an Americanised example to describe the helicopter to a NZ readership? We don't have 'school buses' as such, just busses used for school. A 'school bus' usually means one of those yellow things like the one Otto drives in The Simpsons. I get just a little tiny wee bit annoyed at American culture creep here.

A school bus to me means the buses you see all over New Zealand which have the school bus sign on the back. When I think of school bus I don't associate the term with the yellow buses you are thinking of. The high school I went to had nearly 20 school busses lined up out the front at the end of the school day, not one of them was yellow.

Otherwise I too detest the Americanisms that infest our media, especially the use of "z" instead of "s"

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

Technofreak

6530 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#2909846 3-May-2022 21:02

Apps and or devices that assume we here in New Zealand use the stupid crazy US date MM/DD/YY format.

With English (NZ) chosen as the language you get the MM/DD/YY option when you select English (GB/UK) you get the DD/MM/YY option.

One example I had was with HereWeGo maps which has notifications of roadworks/Road closures along with the effective dates. The dates were always in the MM/DD/YY format even with the device global setting set for English (NZ).

Sony Xperia XA2 running Sailfish OS. https://sailfishos.org The true independent open source mobile OS
Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
Dell Inspiron 14z i5

Rikkitic

Awrrr
18659 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#2911179 6-May-2022 22:24

Newshub Late just now: Hundreds cue to sniff corpse flower

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

1 | ... | 183 | 184 | 185 | 186 | 187 | 188 | 189 | 190 | 191 | 192 | 193 | ... | 290