Speed Bump #297

From (of course) the Daily Mail:

Angelina Jolie walks away $80 million richer after dragging Brad Pitt ‘through ringer’ in eight-year divorce battle

Were there bells involved?  No?

Then it’s wringer, you fucking imbeciles — the machine what squeezed the water out of sodden clothing with rollers (back before we had clothes dryers).  Not that I would expect Millennial- or Gen Z illiterates to know about them.

Which is no excuse.

Speed Bump #784

If you’re trying to fix colleges, you could at least start by using proper grammar in your headlines:

“Student sues South Carolina college after suspended for gun-related social media post”

…OR:

“Student sues South Carolina college after suspension for gun-related social media post”

…OR:

“Student sues South Carolina college after being suspended for gun-related social media post”

…OR:

“Student sues South Carolina college after having been suspended for gun-related social media post”

All those options, and you picked the wrong one.

Speed Bump #856

From Longtime Friend & Reader Weetabix:

This morning on the radio, the host called an idea “far-fletched” before describing the problems with the idea. The guest then said, “You hit it right on the nail.”

1) Is a “far-fletched” idea one that has better fletching so it can fly farther?

2) Did the guest believe the host was trying to hammer his thumb on purpose?

Good questions, both.  In mitigation:  radio is a live medium so people can misspeak while expressing an opinion — but that’s all the more reason to gather one’s thoughts before expressing them.

Speed Bump #3,564

In an otherwise excellent post, Don Surber had me right up until the end, when he uttered this little summary:

“President Trump slayed the Bush dynasty. Trump slayed the Clinton dynasty. Now, Trump has slayed Obama…”

The past-perfect word for “slay” is “slew“.  It’s one of the oldest words in the English language, for obvious reasons, and should be treated with the deference it deserves.  As the slaves used to sing:

Lil’ David play on your harp, hallelu-hallelu
Lil’ David play on your harp, hallelu.
Lil’ David was a shepherd boy,
He slew Goliath and shouted for joy!
Lil’ David play on your harp, hallelu.

If uneducated slaves could get it right…

Speed Bump #5,406

Once more into the breech, dear friends:

Robert Kiyosaki, the author of Rich Dad Poor Dad, is known for making hyperbolic predictions about the US economy – and this time he has a grim prognosis for the most populous state in the nation.

‘The problem is California is going broke,’ he wrote on X. ‘California will begin raising taxes and cutting subsidies to the poor, to prisons, environmental problems, and teachers unions. That means crime will spread as police will be cut.’

He believes even Americans who don’t live in the Golden State should care about its prospects because it’s a bell weather for the rest of the country.

‘Since California is a Bell Weather state and is going broke, which states will follow?’ he asked. 

I think he means “bellwether” and not “bell weather”, which is meaningless.

The article was otherwise quite informative, hence why the above atrocity was such a speed bump — I stopped reading it to write this post as I usually do in these circumstances.

Poxy illiterates.

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