Get Shot in the Chest...Buy a Playstation 3!



  • http://news.com.com/2061-10786_3-6138896.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

    This mans desperation to buy a PlayStation 3 knows no bounds.Well at least it was driven by profit rather than some extreme fanboyish loyalty to Sony, which is better I suppose :-s



  • The real WTF is that last sentence. 

    [quote user="Wal-Mart"]No, the 21-year-old was looking to resell the consoles on eBay--after eight days in the hospital, he ended up with four, including one given as a gift by Wal-Mart--and make a profit.[/quote]

    Why not just write this:
    "No, the 21-year-old was looking to resell the consoles on eBay and make a profit. After eight days in the hospital, he ended up with four, including one given as a gift by Wal-Mart."
    That would be much easier to understand.



  • [quote user="HeroreV"]

    The real WTF is that last sentence. 

    [quote user="Wal-Mart"]No, the 21-year-old was looking to resell the consoles on eBay--after eight days in the hospital, he ended up with four, including one given as a gift by Wal-Mart--and make a profit.[/quote]

    Why not just write this:
    "No, the 21-year-old was looking to resell the consoles on eBay and make a profit. After eight days in the hospital, he ended up with four, including one given as a gift by Wal-Mart."
    That would be much easier to understand.

    [/quote]

    Glad I'm not the only one that has noticed this trend in "journalism", the trend toward trying to sound important/intellectual by composing the most conviluted sentence structures. It's all over Reuters and AP too. Awful. You'd think a writer would know how to write.

     



  • Indeed.  Short sentances with short words are better.  The worst offender ever is Tycho on Penny Arcade.  Speaking on being too tired to keep playing a video game:

     

    I considered going on like this, compensating with my other senses, taking up the aegis of the mole rat, when other (historically, quite loyal!) portions of the body joined the growing revolt.



  • [quote user="djork"]

    Indeed.  Short sentances with short words are better.  The worst offender ever is Tycho on Penny Arcade.  Speaking on being too tired to keep playing a video game:

     

    I considered going on like this, compensating with my other senses, taking up the aegis of the mole rat, when other (historically, quite loyal!) portions of the body joined the growing revolt.

    [/quote]

    When Tycho does it, it's funny.  What's more, it's his site, and he can be as needlessly verbose as he likes there.  It has no place in mainstream news, however.



  • Good gravy... people arguing about grammar writing 'conviluted' 'sentances'.


    My grammar would be turning over in her grave.

    I heartily agree though - I keep seeing news articles with yoda-worthy things like "Last Tuesday spoke to the President", meaning "On Tuesday, Mr Last spoke to the President" - is that an americanism or just a wtfism?!



  • I usually get fired up when I hear about some lazy enterprising moron who pulls crap like this, buying items in high demand at retail and turning around to resell them. Basically making a buttload of money for no effort.

    But this guy, however, definitely put some blood and sweat and tears into it. Kudos to you sir, you earned it. Or as the AP would say...

    Kudos, to this guy, however, as he did put blood and sweat and tears into despite earning the Playstation 3's on the gunshot having for resale.



  • [quote user="Manni"]

    I usually get fired up when I hear about some lazy enterprising moron who pulls crap like this, buying items in high demand at retail and turning around to resell them. Basically making a buttload of money for no effort.

    [/quote]

    I think the common term is "scalping."
     



  • [quote user="versatilia"]Good gravy... people arguing about grammar writing 'conviluted' 'sentances'.[/quote]

    Grammar != spelling.



  • [quote user="versatilia"]

    I heartily agree though - I keep seeing
    news articles with yoda-worthy things like "Last Tuesday spoke to the
    President", meaning "On Tuesday, Mr Last spoke to the President" - is
    that an americanism or just a wtfism?!

    [/quote]

    The only way that parses in any way is if you mean "Last, Tuesday, spoke to the President...".

    I
    don't think I've ever seen that usage uttered by any but
    reporters.  It's quite clear, however, what they mean when it's
    spoken.

    What really feeds my pet peeve, however, is
    "enormity".  Reporters and journalist love this word, using it
    in place of "enormousness".  It's not exactly hard to see why -
    "enormity" rolls off the tongue much more easily than
    "enormousness".  There is the slight problem, however, of the fact
    that "enormity" does not mean abnormally large, as "enormousness"
    does.  It means depraved abnormality.  The word they should
    be using is "immensity".

    And then there's "moot".  Everyone
    says, "Well, that's a moot point.", when they mean exactly the
    opposite.  Moot means arguable.  A moot point is one which is
    quite debatable, and worthy of further discussion. 

     



  • OED has both meanings:

    moot, a.

    1. Originally in Law, of a case, issue, etc.: proposed for discussion at a moot (MOOT n.1 4). Later also gen.: open to argument, debatable; uncertain, doubtful; unable to be firmly resolved. Freq. in moot case, point.


        2. N. Amer. (orig. Law). Of a case, issue, etc.: having no practical significance or relevance; abstract, academic.

      Now the usual sense in North America.

     
    I suspect the modern meaning may have come from the use of moot as a noun:

    moot, n.1

    4. Law. The discussion of a hypothetical case by law
    students for practice; a hypothetical doubtful case that may be used
    for discussion. Cf. BOLT n.3 2.

      Revived in the Inns of Court in the 19th cent. but fell into disuse (last retained at Gray's Inn according to N.E.D.), 1908). Reintroduced subsequently into universities where law is studied and into the Inns of Court.
     



  • am I the only one to think it was pretty dumb to shoot the guy and then not go back and take his wallet....



  • [quote user="Tann San"]am I the only one to think it was pretty dumb to shoot the guy and then not go back and take his wallet....[/quote]

    No, that's about in line with the criminal mind these days...

    That and if you go back and take his wallet, a large amount of people (read: more people than you have bullets to deal with) just saw you in close detail and would be able to pick you out of a lineup...

     



  • but they'd already mugged some other people in the queue so there are already witnesses



  • [quote user="versatilia"]

    I heartily agree though - I keep seeing news articles with yoda-worthy things like "Last Tuesday spoke to the President", meaning "On Tuesday, Mr Last spoke to the President" - is that an americanism or just a wtfism?!

    [/quote]

    There have been hundreds of them.  Rather than put them all in this message I'll just suggest you do an Internet search for "British Left Waffles". 


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    [quote user="Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Over."]

    [quote user="versatilia"]Good gravy... people arguing about grammar writing 'conviluted' 'sentances'.[/quote]

    Grammar != spelling.

    [/quote]

     

    Ah, yes, but there were both spelling and grammar mistakes made in this thread.

     To the person who asked something to the effect of, "shouldn't writers be able to write?:"  Well, you'd like to think so, except a lot of modern "journalists" are really lazy, and/or gullible.  See also, fauxtography.


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