This is not how it’s made

It’s one of the most common mistakes that writers make, so it’s no surprise it showed up on Yahoo! News‘ “Who Knew?”

New ‘element’ enters the periodic table

The periodic table of elements just got a new entry, according to Yahoo! News‘ “Who Knew?”

The correct answer to this question, according to the chemistry geniuses, is silver. Water has apparently been reclassified as an element while the  world was sleeping.

Where do you hang your hair?

The truth finally comes out: President Obama has a hairpiece. And he hangs his hair in the West Wing of the White House. And he’s left it there for three years. Once again the writer for Yahoo! News‘ “The Cutline” is first with the breaking news:

In case you missed seeing the accompanying picture, the writer helpfully included it twice:

Take a peek at this

Westfield, an Australian mall operator, put something on the top of the World Trade Center plans. I think it was a Banana Republic.

Or maybe Westfield gave a peek at the WTC plans. Could be. After all, this “news” appeared on Yahoo! News.

I totally dominate in grammar

Either there’s only one crisis in Europe and dominate is wrong or there’s multiple crises and crisis is wrong:

Either way, I would totally dominate the folks at Yahoo! News at a grammar smackdown.

False headlines suck: Poll

I took a poll of my doggie Millie and well, me, and we are unanimous: Headlines that don’t tell the truth —  like this one on Yahoo! News — are truly suckish:

Virginia and Florida may have the most well-read cities, but that conclusion isn’t supported by a poll. It’s the result of compilation of sales data.

Yes, that would be the definition

Yes, well. What can I say? The brilliance of the writers for the Yahoo! front page is matched only by their ability to explain the obvious:

Yes, indeedie. Instant buildings can actually be constructed in “no time.” That would be the definition of “instant.”

Whose rivals?

If you thought Fiat and Volkswagen were rivals, think again. Fiat is, in fact, such an awesome friend of the German auto manufacturer that it’s pulled an epic prank on Volkswagen’s rivals.

Which rivals? I have no idea. I tried reading the accompanying article on Yahoo! News‘ “Yahoo! Tech,” but all I could figure out is that Fiat pranked Volkswagen. No news on VW’s rivals.

Deconstructing the descontructor

A deconstruction of this headline shows that the editors on Yahoo! News can’t even get the name of their own feature right:

Haven’t seen this for a while

It’s been a long while since I’ve seen this mistake on Yahoo!. This time it’s from Yahoo! News‘ “Who Knew”:

If you’re looking for the right word after a preposition like for or in, use a while; awhile never follows a preposition.