# A Very Poorly Written News Article

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-poorly-written-news-article/638730>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [October 24, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-poorly-written-news-article/638730 "2012-10-24T14:27:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2012, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-poorly-written-news-article/638730/21 "2012-10-25T13:30:51Z")

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Not bad for a 21st century news article. There’s much worse.

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**Author:** ![Haunted\_Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/94ad74/32.png) [@Haunted\_Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Haunted_Pasta)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-poorly-written-news-article/638730/22 "2012-10-26T19:41:17Z")

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Missed this thread yesterday. By coincidence, last night I was laughing at a photo caption from a CNN story, although the story itself is certainly tragic.

Story: [Great white shark killed California surfer, officials say](http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/24/us/california-shark-attack-death/index.html?iref=allsearch)

As noted under the accompanying photo:

> [@](#):
>
> Officials released a photo showing teeth marks on a surf board made by a shark that killed a surfer in California this week.

Everything through “showing” provides a routine example of unnecessary wording, while the rest provides another hilarious example of why commas matter.

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**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\
**Post date:** [October 26, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-poorly-written-news-article/638730/23 "2012-10-26T20:05:35Z")

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> [@Lord\_Feldon](#):
>
> I still have no idea what word was meant [in this article:](http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/political/allen-west-patrick-murphy-congressional-race-west-has-9-point-lead-over-murphy-in-new-poll)
> 
> Quote:  
> The Republican Party of Florida recently sent out a mailer embezzled with a photo of a burning American flag
> 
> Embellished? Embossed?

Help! Somebody stole my vocabulary!

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**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2012, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-very-poorly-written-news-article/638730/24 "2012-10-27T02:48:04Z")

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My local paper (the Lafayette, IN _Journal & Courier_) recently had an item heralding the Purdue Airport’s upcoming commemoration of the Tuskegee Airmen. Along with the opportunity to see a restored P-51C Mustang (the aircraft most commonly associated with that group of aviators), visiting schoolchildren could listen to an Airman’s son speak about “rising above diversity to achieve your dreams”. The confusion of “adversity” with “diversity” was especially unfortunate considering the fact that the Tuskegee Airmen were an all-black unit in the then-segregated Army Air Forces.

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