Blunders, bloopers and boo-boos. (original) (raw)

While mistakes in other newspapers make us laugh, we don�t find them so funny in our own newspaper.

Well, OK, some of them are kind of funny, like the time The Baytown Sun society page, away back when, topped off a wedding story with the headline: �Couple exchange cows.� That must have been a mooooving ceremony, huh?

One of the worst typos in the history of this newspaper was about the weather. A news bulletin at the top of the front page stated that the winds would shift to the north. That would not have been so bad if the letter �f� had not been inadvertently omitted from the word �shift.�

As soon as the paper hit the street, a reader commented, �Sure is nasty weather we�re having.�

Not long ago Sun reporter Eleska Aubespin lamented a story in which she mentioned �fried children.� I felt her pain. When I was the city hall reporter, I once described plans for a new restaurant that would include fried children on its menu.

The F.C. typo happened again years later in a photo caption that stated fried children would be served at a fund-raising dinner. What made this error all the more poignant was the fact that the school superintendent was among those pictured buying tickets.

It jumped out of the frying pan again in the old Houston Post daily newspaper. In a story about workers on strike at a ship channel plant, the wife of one of the strikers was asked how they were surviving without a regular paycheck. She then was quoted as saying: �We eat a lot of fried children.� Well, she didn�t really say that; we knew what she meant.

Enough of F.C. Let�s turn our attention to other newspaper blunders � they�re plenty out there. Just Google newspaper goofs and you�ll laugh out loud a lot.

Former Sun reporter Debbie DeLoach Anderson got me started on all this when she mailed me a collection of journalism gaffes that her husband, Spencer, had received from former classmates in Lexington, Ky.

If you don�t mind, I�ll make a little comment in parentheses after headline. Sorry, I always have to get my two cents in.

Here we go:

�Worker suffers leg pain after crane drops 800-pound ball on his head.� (It�s a wonder he didn�t have a headache.)

�Bridges help people cross rivers.� (What will they think of next.)

�Homicide victims rarely talk to police.� (If anyone has a right to remain silent, you�d have to agree that �)

�Meeting on open meetings is closed.� (Yes, what we need is more transparency in government.)

�Hospitals resort to hiring doctors.� (Whatsamatter? Can�t a nurse�s aide do a heart transplant?)

�Marijuana issue sent to a joint committee.� (Where the grass grows greener?)

�Bugs flying around with wings are flying bugs.� (Think about it.)

�Federal agents raid gun shop, find weapons.� (Mission accomplished.)

�Man accused of killing lawyer receives a new attorney.� (I would advise the new attorney to demand full payment up front -- just in case.)

�Starvation can lead to health hazards.� (Can�t win for losing.)

�Parents keep kids home to protest school closure.� (But what if it snows?)

�Statistics show teen pregnancy drops off significantly after age 25.� (We�re all getting older.)

�

Wanda Orton Baytown Sun Columnist, January 24, 2015 column
More "Wandering" columns
Related Topics: Columns | Texas Towns | People | Texas |