Tonite's ABC News: "Cartridges".... WTF?????

[micky]

I'm told that most American dictionaries are descriptive and not proscriptive, so if people use it, they list it.

>

[FromTheRafters]

Indeed. I surely didn't mean to imply that inanimate objects act on their own. However, in the hands of a skilled attacker a lot of people could have been killed had the quick thinking heroes not acted when they did.

[trader_4]

Were the magazines loaded with ammo (cartridges)?

[Stormin Mormon]

Ah, but did you call them on it?

[Stormin Mormon]

And who, here, knows the difference between a magazine and a clip? (I do....)

[micky]

Only Guns and Ammo. Time and Newsweek had mostly news.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Stormin Mormon:

I wouldn't waste the time, but would hope that other "news" providers would at least take the chance to mock their competition.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per micky:

Just thinking about it, I would imagine that a knockout results when the skull accellerated faster than the brain inside and the brain bumps up against the skull/container.

That being the case, I would also imagine that the muscles preventing the head from being accellerated backwards are much stronger than those preventing it from being accellerated sideways.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per rbowman:

Or even being in touch with reality. One of my favorites on ABC Nightly News was when they showed a clip of Obama walking along one of the sidewalks outside The Whitehouse at a pace that others were having trouble keeping up with without breaking into a jog - clearly going somewhere in a hurry - and the announcer said something like "President Obama, taking a leisurely walk in the rose garden."

The other was when they showed a cell phone vid if that nut job that killed the British (soldier? policeman?) with a large knife and a meat cleaver. Full frame - knife in one hand, meat cleaver in the other hand...plain as day.... and the announcer was going on about "Two knives".

Maybe this sounds like a petty obsession with detail... but when somebody messes stuff up at that level on national network news, I have to wonder what else they got wrong that is not so apparent.

[trader_4]

A meat cleaver is a type of knife. Even the magazine versus cartridge thing is a nit, it doesn't effect the essence of the story. I'm more concerned about the major bias incidents, where it's biased because of what they cover versus don't cover, how much time they devote to one story verus another. Or the political correct nonsense like where none of the media except Fox will allow the usage of "illegal alien". IMO those are a lot worse than calling a magazine a cartridge and they happen just about every day.

[FromTheRafters]

A clip has stills displayed so fast it looks like motion.

or

A clip can be used to quickly load a magazine.

[FromTheRafters]

No, I've basically given up on trying to correct people on terminology. Sometimes, when I'm in the mood to do so, I still do though.

[micky]

I wouldn't assume that bumping does it. There must be plenty of resarch on this. I'm trying to plan which way to hit the killer when I'm on a train car and I have to stop a shooting. So I have plenty of time to get the accurate info.

You mean "If that's the case".

[micky]

I havent' noticed that but I believe it.

If you're obsessed with detail, pettily or not, you'll understand my correction of your reply to me, in this thread.

Another thing to keep your eyes open for is the last sentence of maybe

60% or more of news stories. It's usually a summary, a moral, a conclusion, a prediction. a warning, and it's usually WRONG. They should just suppress their ego and omit the last sentence and the story will be far more accurate. Watch the tv news and you'll see what I mean. The radio and written news don't do this nearly as often.

[Stormin Mormon]

I know what you mean. Most folks just ignore any corrections, and keep on being incorrect.

That, like voting, change pretty much nothing.

I've also wondered about calling elected officials. Do they do the will of the people any more?

[Stormin Mormon]

Likely, they would read it and say "looks fine to me....." and go on with the day.

[FromTheRafters]

Only when you figuratively 'rub their noses in it', in public, during the campaign season.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per micky:

Good catch - I'll take it.

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per trader_4:

I agree that it does not affected the essence of the story.

But I would liken that level of inattention to detail (or ignorance) is like when the columns do not balance by, say, 27 cents in double-entry bookkeeping. Yes, it's a trivial amount.... but it indicates something is wrong - and maybe several big things are wrong and they just happen to net out to 27 cents.

I might even extend that to your concern: if they can't even get basic terminology right, what hope is there for meaningful focus and/or emphasis?

[Ashton Crusher]

Look up the meaning of the word penultimate and you'll probably find you and everyone you know has been using it wrong.