Patterico's Pontifications

9/11/2005

Those Wacky Corrections

Filed under: Dog Trainer,General — Patterico @ 10:34 pm



Today’s L.A. Times corrections are awesome. I never do this, but this time I’m quoting each and every one in full:

Turkish author — The subheadline on a Sept. 1 article in Section A about a Turkish author accused of denigrating his country referred to Turkey’s “alleged slaying of Armenians.” It should not have been qualified with the word “alleged” in reference to the slayings of Armenians during and after World War I.

Roadside vendors — A photo caption in Wednesday’s Section A with an article about roadside vendors who had gone to the Gulf Coast to sell necessities to hurricane victims misidentified one of the vendors, Paul Clark, as Everett Majors.

CTG director’s name — An article last Sunday on the play “Dead End” incorrectly spelled the name of the technical director for Center Theatre Group as Alice Holden. Her first name is Alys.

Puzzle clue — The 19 Across crossword puzzle clue last Sunday was “Moises of the Cubs.” The answer was “Alou,” the baseball player, but the clue should have said “formerly of the Cubs.”

Japanese city — The Her World column in the Sept. 4 Travel section said the city of Nara is north of Tokyo. Nara is southwest of Tokyo.

Raquel Welch home — The Aug. 28 Hot Property column reported that the Beverly Hills home Raquel Welch recently put on the market was purchased by the actress in 2002. She purchased it in 1997.

It’s tough to select the best one, but I think my favorite is the second one. I can just visualize the end of the conversation:

L.A. Times reporter: “Well, it’s been nice talking to you, Mr. Majors.”

Paul Clark: “Actually, it was Clark. Paul Clark.”

L.A. Times reporter: “Of course. We’re always interested in accuracy. So how do you spell that last name? M – A – J –”

Paul Clark: “No, it’s Clark! C – L – A — ”

L.A. Times reporter:: “Majors doesn’t begin with a ‘C,’ Mr. Majors!”

Paul Clark: “But I’m telling you, my name is Clark! Paul Clark! P – A – U – L — ”

L.A. Times reporter: “I think I know how to spell the name “Everett,” Mr. Majors!”

Meanwhile, no correction on the assertion that George W. Bush “never” met with Cindy Sheehan. But it’s all context, Mr. Majors!

7 Responses to “Those Wacky Corrections”

  1. the slayings of Armenians during and after World War I.

    Another correction is required. It was not “slaying,” but rather the first genocide of the 20th Century.

    But then, the LAT is used to correcting its corrections. Or am I missing something?

    David (822ea3)

  2. Perhaps they are simply “not interested” at the LAT. It could well be that Knoller’s Syndrome is contagious.

    Black Jack (ee3eb6)

  3. I heard about your blog from Pundit Review on WRKO in Boston. I haven’t read the LA Times since ’79; the last time I was in LA.

    I don’t read the Boston Globe or NY Times either. Perhaps one day when these papers change their approach to news gathering and disseminating I’ll change my ways. Call me naive.

    Ripama (38184d)

  4. In the grand scheme of things, pretty minor and unlikely to be corrected, but pretty funny nonetheless:

    From Chris Dufresne’s feature on the Texas-Ohio State game:

    After Saturday’s game, Texas players led its small band of traveling fans in a chorus of “I’ve been working on the railroad,” and they now can start working on defeating Oklahoma next month.

    Well, yeah, the tune is “I’ve been working…” but the actual name of the song in this context is “The Eyes of Texas”. Anyone who had a clue about college football would know this is almost but not quite as famous as “Hail to the Victors” and “Boomer Sooner” and the “Notre Dame Victory March”.

    Not serious by any stretch, but kinda funny. Like someone calling the Talking Heads song “Life During Wartime” as “This Ain’t No Party, This Ain’t No Disco”.

    Steve in Houston (6a8f2c)

  5. Armenians?Were massacred?What’s that engineering prof at Northwestern say about this.

    lincoln (75c512)

  6. I got sidetracked with my comments about the Armenians.A very bright psychiatrist I know(who coincidentally enough is Armenian)wrote a paper about people like “Alys” who have a cool spelling for their name.He called it, “contrived uniqueness”.
    And their is someone on the the Huffington Post who is “Lizz”.But she’s suing Air America,so there’s hope for her.

    lincoln (75c512)

  7. There might actually be an excuse for that second one; say if there were several photos, of which they ran one, and the notes for two of them got mixed up.

    That first one, though… where do they find people who think like this? Or is it simple ignorance?

    jaed (0f890e)


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