# Crunks '06: The Year in Media Errors **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 13, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crunks-06-the-year-in-media-errors/384016 "2006-12-13T20:52:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crunks-06-the-year-in-media-errors/384016/1 "2006-12-13T20:52:44Z")
Regret the Error have released their [Crunks '06](http://www.regrettheerror.com/2006/12/crunks_06_the_y.html) awards, in which they give out the awards to the best (or rather, worst) errors of the year. Great stuff in there if you’re up for a bit of a long read. Yes, Queen Elizabeth’s colony made the cut for Typo of the Year. My favourite, apart from that one: > [@Crunks '06](#): > > **Best, Er, Compliment** > St. Louis talk radio host Dave Lenihan was fired after he mistakenly used a racial epithet when praising Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: > > ``` > "She’s got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She’s African-American, which would kind of be a big coon. A big coon. Oh my God. I am totally, totally, totally, totally, totally sorry for that.” Link > > ``` > > He meant to say “coup.” ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crunks-06-the-year-in-media-errors/384016/2 "2006-12-13T21:43:20Z")
He meant to say “coup”? Then he would _still_ have misused the word, IMHO (albeit not as badly). “She’s got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. She loves football. She’s African-American…” How in the world do those attributes relate to a “coup”? He definitely should have been fired for the “coon” usage, but the word _coup_ used in that context stands out like a turd in a punchbowl. What do y’all think? Q ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crunks-06-the-year-in-media-errors/384016/3 "2006-12-13T21:46:58Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem] What do y’all think? [/QUOTE] I thought it should have been ‘boon’. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crunks-06-the-year-in-media-errors/384016/4 "2006-12-13T21:51:46Z")
[QUOTE=Quasimodem] He meant to say “coup”? [/QUOTE] We did this when it was actually news, and the consensus was that he was thinking both “coup” and “boon” and it got all befuddled 'tween his brain and his tongue. [thefreedictionary.com](http://thefreedictionary.com) on my Firefox offers “a triumph” as one definition of “coup”, so that makes sense. It would be a triumph for a minority minority to achieve what she has in a racially and gender biased field like politics. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crunks-06-the-year-in-media-errors/384016/5 "2006-12-13T22:51:14Z")
Okay, guys. Given that additional bit of information, I can understand how running the words boon and coup together would have resulted in that unforunate faux pas, but again, look at the rest of the sentence: “She’s got the patent resume of somebody that has serious skill. \*\*She loves football. She’s African-American, which would kind of be a big …” \*\* (Bolding mine) Admittedly, I didn’t know of this until the OP, but where was he _going_ and where would he have wound up if he hadn’t flubbed it? Jesus, y’all: it almost sounds like the next words might have been even worse, and I will leave them to your imagination, but it almost sounds like being African-American is a pre-requisite to liking football or vice-versa. At best, he was attempting to pay her a compliment. At worst he came off sounding like Archie Bunker. I feel for the guy, but it seems to me that that whole comment was doomed from the beginning, faux pas or not. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Talon\_Karrde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Talon\_Karrde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Talon_Karrde)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crunks-06-the-year-in-media-errors/384016/6 "2006-12-14T01:30:34Z")
Heh, the best poll was my favorite. It’s near the bottom.