Off topic: Where was your '62 Caddie last night?
Thread poster: RichardDeegan
RichardDeegan
RichardDeegan
Local time: 12:19
Spanish to English
Feb 12, 2010

http://www.newsherald.com/news/lying-81387-killed-struck.html
PENSACOLA - A 57-year-old homeless man lying in the road at 2 a.m. Friday morning was struck and killed by an older blue Cadillac that left the scene, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Duh, do you think he would have been safer if struck by a later model?


 
Jalapeno
Jalapeno
Local time: 18:19
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Uh ... Feb 12, 2010

... of course not, but they're obviously looking for witnesses. Somebody might remember seeing an older model Cadillac nearby and might be able to point the police in the right direction. If you're looking for witnesses to a traffic accident, it helps to describe the make and model of the car involved in as much detail as possible.

I'm not at all sure what the point of this thread is.


 
Nicole Schnell
Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:19
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Uhm. Feb 12, 2010

RichardDeegan wrote:

Duh, do you think he would have been safer if struck by a later model?


They gave a description of the car in hope to find some more eyewitnesses. I don't quite understand the remark about older and newer car models...


 
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
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It's an ambiguity. Feb 13, 2010

- which the thread poster sees as a joke, and so do I.

PENSACOLA - A 57-year-old homeless man lying in the road at 2 a.m. Friday morning was struck and killed by an older blue Cadillac that left the scene, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The homeless man was 57 years old. He was killed by an older Cadillac. So (in one possible interpretation) the Cadillac was more than 57 years old. So it wouldn't have been a '62 Cadillac, it would have been a model from 195
... See more
- which the thread poster sees as a joke, and so do I.

PENSACOLA - A 57-year-old homeless man lying in the road at 2 a.m. Friday morning was struck and killed by an older blue Cadillac that left the scene, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The homeless man was 57 years old. He was killed by an older Cadillac. So (in one possible interpretation) the Cadillac was more than 57 years old. So it wouldn't have been a '62 Cadillac, it would have been a model from 1952 or earlier.

No joke ever seems funny if you have to explain it!
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Nicole Schnell
Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
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@Jack Feb 13, 2010

As much as I try to find the humor in it - I just can't make any fun out of the fact that another person was killed by a presumably drunk driver.

 
Jack Doughty
Jack Doughty  Identity Verified
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It's still a joke... Feb 13, 2010

Though I agree it is not in very good taste.

 
Susanna Garcia
Susanna Garcia  Identity Verified
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Joke Feb 14, 2010

Jack Doughty wrote:

It's still a joke....


No, it's not!


 
Nicole Schnell
Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:19
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I agree with Susanna. Feb 14, 2010

This is the way news are reported. If anyone gets a kick out of it, fine.

Hey, on 9/11 the World Trade Center was struck by flight 11. Would it have been safer if it would have been flight 12?

Muahahahaha. Thigh slap.


 
RichardDeegan
RichardDeegan
Local time: 12:19
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
Strange Feb 14, 2010

I posted this not as a joke or an attempt at humor, but as another example of the poor writing that is rampant among today's media. Why does the lead, which should include the essential elements (and only the essential elements) of the story (as per Sister Emanuel in the fifth grade on diagramming sentences, misplaced modifiers and similar) contain a gratuitous (totally irrelevant and probably incorrect) comparison by using "older" for the car when the only other age reference (an therefore the ... See more
I posted this not as a joke or an attempt at humor, but as another example of the poor writing that is rampant among today's media. Why does the lead, which should include the essential elements (and only the essential elements) of the story (as per Sister Emanuel in the fifth grade on diagramming sentences, misplaced modifiers and similar) contain a gratuitous (totally irrelevant and probably incorrect) comparison by using "older" for the car when the only other age reference (an therefore the other item compared) is to the victim? Was there really a '52 Caddie involved or should not this have been just "old" or "early model" instead? Just what does a comparison between the age of the victim and the age of the car that hit him have to do with news?
And yes Jack, my math mistake. It should have been "'52 Caddie", but I didn't recall Caddies with bright colors until around 1955.
Finally someone leaped from the sentence "Alcohol may have played a part in the accident, the report said." to the conclusion that there was a drunken driver involved. Rather, it seems on the face of the article (poorly written as it may be) that the unfortunate victim (who was lying on the street) may have had a bit to drink.
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Nicole Schnell
Nicole Schnell  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 10:19
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The art of communication Feb 15, 2010

What matters is not what you were trying to say but how your message was perceived.

Interesting example - you tried to mock a lousily written article, yet nobody understood what you meant at first.

Do you happen to like old American cars? There might be a huge difference between a 52 and a 53 model. Maybe you have to be an American or at least to be crazy about vintage cars to tell the models apart. This piece of information is crucial. To deny that would be ignorant.

Finally someone leaped from the sentence "Alcohol may have played a part in the accident, the report said." to the conclusion that there was a drunken driver involved. Rather, it seems on the face of the article (poorly written as it may be) that the unfortunate victim (who was lying on the street) may have had a bit to drink.


Firstly, it was I, Nicole Schnell, who mentioned that. Feel free to address me by my name. This is Proz.com, a portal for translation professionals who have names and who run companies and not Alcoholics Anonymous or something.

Secondly, to accuse the victim of being drunk and lying around in a car drivers's way, thus implying that it's his own fault to be dead now, is the rudest thing I have ever heard.

Good grief.


 


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Where was your '62 Caddie last night?






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