# Science journalism FAIL, or, Don't Make False Linguistic Claims **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 17, 2010, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521 "2010-06-17T05:53:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/21 "2010-06-17T15:49:21Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > (Also not a linguist, but I’ve got, you know, hobbies.) This could work in so many situations. ‘IANA Homicidal, Axe-Wielding Maniac; but I’ve got, you know, hobbies.’ ---
**Author:** ![GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f1d935/32.png) [@GSV\_Consolation\_of\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GSV_Consolation_of_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/22 "2010-06-17T15:50:28Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I googled the sentence and found several references to its use in speech pathology. The problem appears to be that the sentence is just part of a longer passage. Specifically: > > [When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. A rainbow is the division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a large, round arch, with its path high above and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. > > There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.]([http://www.d.umn.edu/~cspiller/readingpassages.html](http://www.d.umn.edu/~cspiller/readingpassages.html)) > > I’m guessing this longer passage contains all your missing fricatives, affricates, and plosives. So, somewhat sloppy journalism, but essentially something got lost in the translation. Where’s the “qu”? I like Limpy the duck from the same page though: > [@](#): > > Limpy is a fuzzy, yellow, baby duck. He belongs to a fisherman. The fisherman lives in a little house by the bay. Every morning children go swimming in the bay. About 10:00, Limpy waddles out to the road to wait for the children. When he hears them coming he begins a loud, excited quacking. > The children always bring bread or corn for Limpy. He will nip at their fingers or peck at their bare toes until he is fed. Limpy never follows the children down to the shore. He likes to swim in his own little pond. It is much safer. There’s a q there at least. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/23 "2010-06-17T15:57:34Z")
Q = K. Qu = k+w. (just an approximation, I’m not going to dig into the IPA while I’m at work.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/24 "2010-06-17T16:26:17Z")
Very interesting…but opinion is being sought here? ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/25 "2010-06-17T19:46:43Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > An improper use of language in a rant about improper use of language isn’t ironic? Gaudere’s Law. A language error in a rant about language is actually _expected_. Further nitpick: This isn’t a rant about a language error (i.e., an error made by a speaker). It’s a rant about an error in the author’s understanding of the phonemic structure of the English language. > [@Drain\_Bead](#): > > What’s the difference between the th in think and the th in they? Think is unvoiced. They is voiced. (The difference is whether or not you’re engaging your vocal cords.) > [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > I would submit that English is a living, changing language, and Ms. Morrisette’s song sufficiently popularized a definition of “irony” synonymous with “perverse coincidence” or “cruel happenstance” that such usage is now acceptable in everyday use of the language. She didn’t popularize it. It was a very common error even before the song. She just gave people new examples of things that aren’t actually ironic. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/26 "2010-06-17T20:59:35Z")
I was being tongue in cheek with the irony comment, by the way. For the definitive guide on irony, refer to [The Oatmeal](http://theoatmeal.com/comics/irony). ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/27 "2010-06-17T21:37:08Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > For the definitive guide on irony, refer to [The Oatmeal](http://theoatmeal.com/comics/irony). To be serious for a moment, a great actual book on the subject is \*The Compass of Irony \*by D.C. Muecke. It’s out of print, so you might have a hard time tracking down a copy, but a library might have it. ---
**Author:** ![Cyningablod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Cyningablod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyningablod)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/28 "2010-06-17T22:48:03Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Ado. A-DO! Not goodbye! > > It’s a thread about language, I’m allowed to nitpick on spellin’ 😛 D’OH! :smack: Hoisted by own retard! Er, I mean…petard! I do actually know that it’s ado and not adieu…I don’t know what I was thinking. Sigh. Irony bites me in the ass once again! ---
**Author:** ![Cyningablod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Cyningablod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyningablod)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/29 "2010-06-17T22:54:03Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > Cyningablog being a yank, ‘practicing’ is perfectly fine, in his neck of the woods. I AIN’T a “yank”!!! :mad: I was born and raised in Tennessee, and have lived in the Republic of Texas for nine years now. “Yank” is just about as low an insult as you can get, for us Southerners! \ 😃 I know what you mean, though. Yank as in, American. Yes, I am a yank, I guess. But in most of the southern US, that word still, 150 years later, has a VERY pejorative connotation: it suggests that one is a low-down, dirty, Lincoln-loving, usurping Northern Aggressor. Jus’ sayin’. ---
**Author:** ![Cyningablod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc29f/32.png) [@Cyningablod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyningablod)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/30 "2010-06-17T22:57:33Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Very interesting…but opinion is being sought here? Point taken. After posting I realized I should have put it in MPSIMS. ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/31 "2010-06-17T23:16:59Z")
There are also a few missing vowels, such as: - as in ‘beat’ as in ‘boot’ [ʊ] as in ‘put’ [aʊ] as in ‘cow’ [ɔ] as in ‘caught’ (if you don’t pronounce it the same as ‘cot’) [ɔI] as in ‘boy’ not to talk about variation in different varieties of English. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/32 "2010-06-18T01:47:10Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > I googled the sentence and found several references to its use in speech pathology. The problem appears to be that the sentence is just part of a longer passage. Specifically: > > [When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act like a prism and form a rainbow. A rainbow is the division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a large, round arch, with its path high above and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. > > There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.]([http://www.d.umn.edu/~cspiller/readingpassages.html](http://www.d.umn.edu/~cspiller/readingpassages.html)) > > I’m guessing this longer passage contains all your missing fricatives, affricates, and plosives. So, somewhat sloppy journalism, but essentially something got lost in the translation. That’s the paragraph I have to read every time I get my respirator fit-tested. There’s a whole bunch of various tests to make sure that it will stay in place and keep a good seal and reading that paragraph is one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ce7236/32.png) [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2010, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521/33 "2010-06-18T02:35:21Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > That’s the paragraph I have to read every time I get my respirator fit-tested. There’s a whole bunch of various tests to make sure that it will stay in place and keep a good seal and reading that paragraph is one of them. I knew I had read this before, and figuring Im a bit of a language geek, (but not a linguistics maven) it must be from some random reading. But yes, it was for my N95 mask fit-testing. My two years are up this October, so yeah, I get to read outloud about rainbows. At least this time I will know why. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/science-journalism-fail-or-dont-make-false-linguistic-claims/543521.md?page=1)