# Omnibus Stupid MFers in the news thread (Part 2) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 5, 2024, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657 "2024-01-05T16:15:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 446
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8901 "2026-10-17T22:14:12Z")
I will say that one of my pet peeves is when people misspell the word “lead” as the past tense form of the verb “lead”. (It should be “led”, not to be confused with the abbreviation “LED”. Fucking English language.) ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8902 "2026-10-17T23:02:35Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > not to be confused with the abbreviation “LED” Since we’re in a nitpicking era of this thread, surely that is an acronym? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8903 "2026-10-17T23:16:01Z")
Ah, well then. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8904 "2026-10-17T23:32:22Z")
I see your nit and raise. LED is an _initialism_, not an acronym. Yes, many people misuse the terms unto interchangeability. They are wrong. Pedants of the world, untie! Or something like that 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8905 "2026-10-17T23:35:04Z")
Got your back, Jack. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8906 "2026-10-17T23:53:27Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > LED is an _initialism_, not an acronym. Yes, many people misuse the terms unto interchangeability. Yes, it’s only an acronym if it forms a word, like scuba or radar or laser. AFAIK,nobody pronounces LED as anything but the letters. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2026, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8907 "2026-10-17T23:55:19Z")
And besides, initialisms and acronyms are both kinds of abbreviations, so @Atamasama was right in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8908 "2026-10-18T02:08:12Z")
Just remember that “read” rhymes with “lead”, but “read” doesn’t rhyme with “lead”. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8909 "2026-10-18T05:14:02Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > The spelling “lead” is historically preferred, and “lede” is a neologism that I dislike. Not so sure of that, at least in the journalism profession. The spelling “lede” has been around a long time, and for a reason. Long before the modern electronic age, newspaper type was set in lead (the metal) slugs with a Linotype machine. So “lead” was a fundamental element of journalism vocabulary, meaning the metal. So the “lede” spelling naturally evolved to distinguish from the metal as well as giving the proper pronunciation for the opening line(s) of a news item – another fundamental word of journalism vocabulary. (I took Journalism in High School, circa 1969. “Lede” was certainly already well-established then.) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8910 "2026-10-18T06:07:59Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > Not so sure of that, at least in the journalism profession. The spelling “lede” has been around a long time, and for a reason. Read the essay link I provided in the post you quoted. While it’s not that it was unheard of, it is only recently of common use. And its earliest usage among journalists is documented in the 1970s, so I question your recollection. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8911 "2026-10-18T06:17:26Z")
Alright, if the linguistic prescriptivists have had their fill, here’s the story of a New Hampshire woman who had to call 911 from inside an urgent care clinic after the staff forgot about her, closed for the night, and locked her in. > **[Woman suffering an asthma attack was locked inside urgent care as staff all left](https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/woman-went-urgent-care-asthma-170543447.html)** > > ‘I knew that they were slammed at the end of the day so I was trying to give them some grace,’ the woman says ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8912 "2026-10-18T15:48:06Z")
I want to be clear that this isn’t a ‘stupid MFer in the news’, I just didn’t want to start a thread for it and didn’t know where else to put it. A priest was livestreaming a mass and was killed when the crucifix fell on him. The notable part being that, at least as of right now, the video is still up. It’s not ‘graphic’ in the sense that you don’t see anything gory, but you do basically see him getting killed (though he actually died later). > **[Ecuador Priest Dies After Massive Crucifix Falls on Him During Livestreamed Mass](https://www.tmz.com/2026/10/18/ecuador-priest-dies-after-cross-falls-on-him/)** > > A Catholic priest in Ecuador has died after a massive crucifix came crashing down on him in the middle of a church service ... and the terrifying accident was captured on a livestream. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8913 "2026-10-18T15:54:58Z")
Dayum. That’s a shame. Poor dude. Makes me think of the cliché about dying while doing what you love. Although sadly he wasn’t killed instantly. If he had to die, that probably would’ve been his preference. Also makes me think of any number of bad jokes where the punchline is god intoning “Damn. Missed again!” ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8914 "2026-10-18T15:56:12Z")
What part of that is stupidity, though? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8915 "2026-10-18T16:02:02Z")
> [@susan](#): > > What part of that is stupidity, though? None of it.\* > [@Joey\_P](#): > > I want to be clear that this isn’t a ‘stupid MFer in the news’, I just didn’t want to start a thread for it and didn’t know where else to put it. \*In fairness, there’s no word yet on the cause, maybe someone did something stupid that caused it to fall. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8916 "2026-10-18T16:16:23Z")
Semi-related: Twitter is getting awfully snuffy lately. They allowed clips showing the full accident of that priest getting his head smashed in. Before that they hosted the video of that airborne guy who’s equipment failed or something, falling fifty feet or so to his death. And of course that where I saw (after unwittingly clicking a video, like these other two) of Charlie Kirk being murdered. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8917 "2026-10-18T16:23:43Z")
Even more semi-related, there’s a documentary called Evil Genius where, amongst a whole lot of other evil things, a group of people put a bomb around someone’s neck and made him rob a bank. They show the news footage of the bomb exploding and killing him. IIRC, at the time, the police didn’t know that he wasn’t the bad guy in this situation, hence being at gunpoint. Here’s the [clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0gYcvU-5fw), and again, you do actually see the bomb detonate. > **[Evil Genius (TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_Genius_(TV_series))** > > Evil Genius: The True Story of America's Most Diabolical Bank Heist is a 2018 true crime documentary series about the death of Brian Wells, a high-profile 2003 incident often referred to as the "collar bomb" or "pizza bomber" case. It was released on Netflix as a four-part series on May 11, 2018. Trey Borzillieri got the idea to make a series about a high-profile crime after watching Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and became captivated with the murder of Brian Wells when ev... ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8918 "2026-10-18T18:35:25Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Here’s the clip, and again, you do actually see the bomb detonate If we’re criticizing their publishing it, should we be linking to it? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8919 "2026-10-18T19:46:56Z")
As long as no grammatical or linguistic errors have been committed, it’s A-OK. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2026, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657/8920 "2026-10-18T20:15:47Z")
So, better a catastrophe than an apostrophe…? Hey, poster’s doing that would hurt guy’s like me “personally!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657.md?page=445) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-stupid-mfers-in-the-news-thread-part-2/995657.md?page=447)