Three times in recent days I've come across careless word usage in news stories.
One was the use of the word "invaluable" when the writer intended to say that the object being described had little value...not tremendous value.
The other was in a story about the Bingo Bribery trial here in Montgomery. The writer was addressing State Senator Scott Beason (R-Gardendale) using the word "aborigines" to describe black patrons of bingo establishments. Ironically, it was the hidden recording devise device Beason himself was wearing that captured his comment and made it public in the trial.
Anyway, the reporter described his use of the word as being an "unfortunate" comment. That wasn't a quote from someone else, it was the reporter's direct writing. Was the Senator's use of the word really "unfortunate"? That implies that he intended to use some other word but came up with aborigine instead by mistake, no?
Finally there was the use of the word inflammable to indicate something that would not burn easily. English can be tricky. Flammable and inflammable mean the same thing. So do ravel and unravel.
Regular readers have seen my regular "Literally Watch" reports, indicating the misuse of that often-misused word.
[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a regular feature of this blog.]
Tim,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate your watch on word usage. On "inflammable," I can remember as a child seeing INFLAMMABLE written on various tank trucks. Later on we started seeing the word FLAMMABLE instead. I remember my Dad commenting that they changed the wording, because too many people misunderstood "inflammable" to mean the opposite.
"Ironically, it was the hidden recording devise Beason himself was wearing that captured his comment and made it public in the trial."
ReplyDelete"Devise" and "device" are not the same thing.
--Assistant Associate Adjunct Editor Jay.
Uh, Jay, you'll notice please that I do NOT critique spelling. For a reason.
ReplyDeleteSorry. Left over, I guess, from having to proof-read my wife's 230- page doctoral dissertation twice.
ReplyDelete