Friday, January 23, 2009

I Kid You Not

Today I read this caption under a photo illustrating a USA Today article:

Beverly Mills, right, and her husband Michael are shown at their home in Sherrills Ford, N.C., on Thursday. Michael Mills greeted his wife at the airport in Charlotte, N.C. the day after she survived US Airways Flight 1549's crash into the icy Hudson River with red roses.

All right, class, can anyone find the misplaced prepositional phrase in this example?
Yes, thank you, it would be those red roses, wouldn't it?
But don't worry, because even if you fail 8th grade English, you can still write for USA Today when you grow up.

If you think I made this up, check it out here.

14 comments:

  1. Cool! I had no idea that I have so much potential, to be like a famous writer, instead of bagging groceries at the local Walmart in an effort to get paid to see all my friends.
    Clearly, this is a sign!
    Snicker.

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  2. Unbelievable. But I see it all the time. My anal grammatical soul cringes. How do these people even graduate highschool let alone get hired to WRITE something!?

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  3. Oops, I think high school is two words. LOL (I can't edit my comments here like I can on xanga.)

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  4. LOL I actually find some kind of pleasure when I see errors like that, especially in books. They supposedly went through some stringent editing process and yet those mistakes were left in there.

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  5. !!!! terrible!!!

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  6. I just read today that James Kilpatrick will no longer be writing his syndicated weekly column on English usage (which saddens me, as I enjoyed reading it; however, he IS 88 years old with health issues)...I nominate YOU to take his place! :-)

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  7. I know the feeling, Dorcas.
    It really makes one cringe, doesn't it?
    I've been tempted to apply for the position of proofreader at our local newspaper.
    ~Priscilla

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  8. I wonder if she had any difficulty holding onto those red roses during the rough landing. :-)

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  9. The biggest blooper I saw was a misspelling that totally changed the meaning of the sentence.
    "Adolf Hitler shot himself in the bonker."
    Moral of the story---don't depend on your spell checker.

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  10. Here's another classic english blooper that topped the front page in our local paper:
    "Man charged with killing girlfriend, unborn child says deaths were accidental."

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  11. If Edith ever crashes into the Hudson River with red roses, I will meet her at the airport when she gets home!

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  12. I never checked...does the Columbia have red roses, too? Pauline

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  13. Good catch, Dorcas.

    Mamma K, it sure appears as though you weren't quite done editing your first comment. fidgets uncomfortably

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