Clueless writing about our sport

[aaronk]

The November issue of T&FN made a boo-boo in its "Where They Are Going" section---a BIGGIE!!

Look at Florida State's New recruits!

Listed there is one JESSICA Judd!!

WHAT???

She of the 1:59, 4:03, 8:43, and 15:34 PR's, not to mention all those medals & awards??

Well, I got a bit suspicious--knowing she'll be 23 in January, and has probably already graduated from a British university!
Not to mention her times are listed there as being 4:24 & 16:17.

So I googled her, and discovered she has a younger sister--name of JODIE Judd!!
It's SHE who is the new recruit at Florida State!!

OOPS, T&FN!!!!

[Atticus]

I realize that Milesplit articles are frequently written by non-professionals (with little editorial oversight), but this is linked on the front page here. It made me LOL.

Low and behold, moving to Iowa was a huge eye-opener for me. Iowa is behind the times . . .

How 'low' can you go?

[tandfman]

If I wanted to cite every solecism that appeared in everything I read about our sport on the web, I'd open up a new thread about clueless writing (track content incidental). And if I posted all of this bad writing, we'd soon have a thread of record length. I could probably fill a page just with quotes from athletes, coaches, and others who said that something or other didn't phase them. I see that much too often.

[gm]

I realize that Milesplit articles are frequently written by non-professionals (with little editorial oversight), but this is linked on the front page here. It made me LOL.



How 'low' can you go?

Perhaps it was a cow pun.

[tandfman]

How about this description of our sport:

>>Sport jargon such as circle for throwing, bar clearence, valve baton racing and starting area describe track & field<<

Valve baton racing? Wow!

http://www.novaguide.gr/en/show/10161652/athletics-iaaf-world-challenge-league/

[Atticus]

How about this description of our sport:
>>Sport jargon such as circle for throwing, bar clearence, valve baton racing and starting area describe track & field<<
Valve baton racing? Wow!
http://www.novaguide.gr/en/show/1016...llenge-league/

Ha! Literal translations are tricky. I suspect an idiom got in the way.

[tandfman]

I can understand how a literal translation could give you circle for throwing instead of throwing circle, but valve baton racing? That just boggles.

[tandfman]

Here's a weird one. The headline reads:

>>Alaska’s Ostrander a detailed second at NCAA West Area cross nation championships<<

This also sounds as if it had been translated from another language. West Area means West Region, and cross nation means cross country. I'm not sure what a detailed second is supposed to mean.

The other odd thing is that the article appears here:

https://kaplanherald.com/2017/12/30/alaskas-ostrander-a-detailed-second-at-ncaa-west-area-cross-nation-championships/

Note that it bears today's date, December 30, 2017, but it says:

>> Allie Ostrander finished a close second in the women‘s race at Friday‘s NCAA West Region cross-country championships in Seattle.<<

Well, the race did happen on a Friday, but that was seven weeks ago. Why is it news today?

[Powell]

I realize that Milesplit articles are frequently written by non-professionals (with little editorial oversight), but this is linked on the front page here. It made me LOL.

How 'low' can you go?

That doesn't really belong in this thread, though. It's just poor writing skills, not clueless writing about T&F.

[Pego]

I'm not sure what a detailed second is supposed to mean.

I suspect, detailed=close.

[tandfman]

I suspect, detailed=close.

You're probably right, given the context. But again, it looks as if the original text was translated from English into some other language, and then translated back to English. I wonder what language. We'll probably never know.

[tandfman]

I just used Google and found the original. Yes, the word was "close" and the article appeared on the website of the Anchorage Daily News.

https://www.adn.com/sports/running/2017/11/10/alaskas-ostrander-a-close-second-at-ncaa-west-region-cross-country-championships/

I don't know why anyone would find a version of that article translated into a foreign language, then translate it back into English, and publish it as news 7 weeks after the race.

[JayIsMe]

From the NYT obituary piece for Horace Ashenfelter, the antithesis of this thread title. IMO one of the best descriptions of the steeplechase for the non-fan-

Ashenfelter’s event was the 3,000-meter steeplechase — a punishing obstacle course of nearly two miles with 28 waist-high hurdles that do not topple, seven of them followed by water pits almost 12 feet long. Runners leap most of the fixed hurdles, but at the water jumps they use it as a step to bound toward the shallower end; after splashing down, they scamper out to continue the race.

[tandfman]

The only clueless thing about the NYT obituary was this:

>>The Penn Relay’s four-mile event in 1949 was won by a team that included three Ashenfelter brothers: Horace, Bill and Donald.<<

It was, and is, the Penn Relays. I'm not sure that the name of the meet is intended as a possessive, but if it is, it should be Relays', not Relay's.

[br]

It was, and is, the Penn Relays. I'm not sure that the name of the meet is intended as a possessive, but if it is, it should be Relays', not Relay's.

Meet the 'Grammar Vigilante' of Bristol

For years, it has been rumoured that somebody has been going out late at night, correcting bad punctuation on Bristol shop fronts.

The self-proclaimed "grammar vigilante" goes out undercover in the dead of night correcting street signs and shop fronts where the apostrophes are in the wrong place.