# The 'Stupid Things People Say' in the Media Thread! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 10, 2004, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624 "2004-06-10T12:20:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Excalibre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/41 "2004-06-12T02:05:37Z")
> [@lambchops](#): > > Turning up to a funeral dead and in slacks? That’s the height of rudeness, as far as I’m concerned. No damn kidding. I mean, if wearing white to a wedding means you’re stealing the bride’s thunder, showing up dead to a funeral? Way to bring the focus back to yourself, drama queen! ---
**Author:** ![Lando\_Griffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f17d59/32.png) [@Lando\_Griffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lando_Griffin)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/42 "2004-06-12T02:32:44Z")
Not so much stupid as embarassing, but in the 2000(?) World Series when the Diamondbacks won, the NBC correspondant walked out on to the field to speak with a few of the players. One of the players (Steve Finley?) hugged a woman and kissed her on the cheek, then went to join his teammates. On the way the NBC guy pulled him aside to talk. NBC: Was that your mother? Finley (surprised): No, that was my wife! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/43 "2004-06-12T03:51:52Z")
This one was on local news years ago. I wouldn’t have believed this slip of the tongue, but I had it on tape and double checked. The news anchor meant to say that something was _a virtual time bomb._ Instead, he said that it was _a virtual tampon_. > [@](#): > > **Spectre** : never voted for him either, but what did he do to the French? Maybe he did little that directly influenced the French, but perhaps he took other actions or made other policies that they disapproved of. The French probably are’t just interested in what happens to them. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/44 "2004-06-21T01:40:10Z")
From [CNN.com](http://CNN.com): [Bodies in lake ‘suspicious’, say police](http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/06/20/bodies.found.ap/index.html) > [@](#): > > PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wisconsin (AP) – A father and two sons missing from Chicago for more than a month were identified Sunday as the bodies that washed ashore on Lake Michigan bound together by nylon rope and tied to bags filled with sand. > > “We consider these deaths to be very suspicious and this case is being handled by law enforcement as a homicide,” said Pleasant Prairie Police Chief Brian J. Wagner. Whoa, don’t jump to any conclusions there, Chief. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/45 "2004-06-21T02:35:18Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > From [CNN.com](http://CNN.com): [Bodies in lake ‘suspicious’, say police](http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Midwest/06/20/bodies.found.ap/index.html) > > Whoa, don’t jump to any conclusions there, Chief. **Rilch** , this may strike you as a “duh” moment, but police have to be careful about how they present cases to the press. An off-the-cuff remark made at the beginning of the investigation may invite scrutiny later, so they learn to qualify their statements with “alleged”, “suspicious”, etc. The press uses this language so it doesn’t get sued. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/46 "2004-06-21T02:48:39Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > **Rilch** , this may strike you as a “duh” moment, but police have to be careful about how they present cases to the press. An off-the-cuff remark made at the beginning of the investigation may invite scrutiny later, so they learn to qualify their statements with “alleged”, “suspicious”, etc. > > The press uses this language so it doesn’t get sued. > > Robin Well, deep down I knew that. But I couldn’t help hearing that statement in Chief Wiggum’s voice. ---
**Author:** ![Strangelove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/47 "2004-06-21T06:47:15Z")
A few years back, some research team was trying to extract DNA from King Tut’s body. A news station decided that if you’ve got some DNA, you could make a clone (good journalism there). They decided they needed some ‘man on the street’ interviews to see if this was a good idea. One man said, “No, I don’t think they should clone King Tut ‘cause he wouldn’t understand microwaves and stuff.” _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/48 "2004-06-21T18:11:34Z")
> [@](#): > > The man replied that “just today” the newspapers started to carry articles on Reagan’s passing, since it was pretty much no surprise that “people here didn’t like him very much”. I suspect that they ought to get their “man in France” to stay out on the street instead on hanging out in the lower dives (or vacationing in Bulgaria, or whatever). A simple search: from [news.google.fr](http://news.google.fr), enter “reagan”. I got dozens of hits on June 6 and June 7 announcing his death and lots of hits from June 13 - June 17 reporting on the funeral or the events leading up to it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Llama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@The\_Llama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Llama)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624/49 "2004-06-21T20:53:28Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > No damn kidding. I mean, if wearing white to a wedding means you’re stealing the bride’s thunder, showing up dead to a funeral? Way to bring the focus back to yourself, drama queen! Wow. That was pretty damn funny. There was a radio station around here that kept replaying a great news snippet. It was during the start of a hurricane and the anchorwoman was giving the broadcast over to their “man on the beach” “…We now go to our correspondent Al Roker, who’s presently getting blown on the beach…” Eat your heart out “From Here To Eternity.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-stupid-things-people-say-in-the-media-thread/249624.md?page=2)