The Senior Media Reporter for Yahoo! News‘ “The Cutline” has used his creative genius to fashion a new Steven Spielberg — one that looks similar to the original. except for the spelling:
You’d think that someone who writes about media (a SENIOR media reporter, no less), would strive for a little accuracy when reporting about media.
Using the wrong word isn’t just making you look careless, it’s also affecting your credibility. For an example, take a look at this from Yahoo! Shine:
For writing at its worst, check out this from Yahoo! Shine:
I have no idea who Brodie Davis is, but the Frisbee-throwing champ featured on the Yahoo! front page is actually Brodie Smith:
When the writer isn’t screwing up Brodie’s name, he or she is treating the trademarked Frisbee like a common noun.
Gee, this isn’t the worst mistake you’ll find in this article on Yahoo! Shine — it’s just the first:
There’s no apostrophe in 60s. Or 50s, 40s, or 30s. The plural of these numbers doesn’t need one.
But I nitpick. I don’t think it’s nitpicking to point out that Robert Wagner is not a male impersonator. As far as I know he’s an actual living, breathing male. Does the writer not know that a widow is a woman who has lost her husband? A man who has lost his wife is a widower:
Another bit of nitpicking, but one that calls into question the facts behind this potential punctuation problem. If both Wagner and Walken combined for a single account, then this is correct:
But if each gave a separate account, then another apostrophe and S are required: Wagner’s and Walken’s.
True nitpickiness: There’s a word missing here:
Yeah, if the writer had made just one minor error, I’d never mention it. She’d get a pass from me. But those nits combined with the implication that Mr. Wagner may be a female impersonating a man…
No question about it: This is a shoo-in for the worst error of the day, and it’s on the Yahoo! front page, where hundreds of people can see it, point, and laugh:
It’s not the first time the writers at Yahoo! have confused shoo with shoe. It’s happened lots of times! I’d love to know what they think shoe-in means.
It’d be just swell if the writer for Yahoo! Music knew how to spell Miguel:
I don’t have a nasty diss for the editor working on the Yahoo! front page who’s responsible for this typo:
Well, maybe I have a small diss: As a proofreader, this writer sucks.
They’d be rolling in the aisle on Fair Isle, after reading this on Yahoo! omg!:
First off, Fair Isle is a knitting technique named after the island in Scotland. It is not a manufacturer of the jacket little Justin Bieber wore. The wool and leather jacket was in the Fair Isle style and made by Junya Watanabe.
No one would ever confuse Yahoo! News with a legitimate news source like the New York Times or the New Hampshire Union Leader. Certainly this kind of idiocy would never appear on a real news site:
The newspaper in question hasn’t been called the Manchester Union Leader since the 1970s.
