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That is just... wow... people are appallingly ignorant. Joel Send a noteboard - 26/08/2012 11:19:42 PM
But what has been bothering me from all of this, is the sheer number of mistakes I've seen in names. And I don't mean just the normal morons in Twitter who got a fact wrong (as was the case when I saw numerous tweets of "God particle found! You must feel SOOOO dumb now, Atheists!";), but also "official" news outlets.

In the Netherlands a newspaper had a headline with "First man on Earth dies". I've seen Neil Young (NBCnews), Lance Armstrong, Neal Armstrong, Louis Armstrong. I've actually seen "Stripped of his Tour titles, dies day after" coming by. Or, "So sad to hear Neil died. I loved How I met Your Mother".

A great man died, after a long, decent and honorable life, and still people manage to get the basic facts wrong. I do hope he'll be an example to children (small and grown up both) for decades to come.

I know the old saw that simple math proves half of humanity dumber than the average man (even though it is not statistically valid) but professional journalists should adhere to a higher standard. That many manifestly do not only underscores the need. Case in point:

A few days ago my wife disgustedly showed me a local article with the word "følgte." She knew I would understand her exasperation because "å følge (to follow)" is on the list of 500 verbs I am slowly memorizing, and conjugates:

å følge-følger-fulgte-har fulgt

There is no such word as "følgte." Someone who moved here a year and a half ago recognized that elementary error, but it escaped a professional journalist. It is hardly surprising many know facts little better than grammar, despite their job requiring both. Small wonder no one has been to the moon since before my birth. :[
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Neil Armstrong (first man to walk on the moon) has passed away at the age of 82. - 25/08/2012 09:11:33 PM 783 Views
Yeah. *NM* - 25/08/2012 09:17:19 PM 199 Views
- 25/08/2012 10:06:59 PM 485 Views
Aww *NM* - 26/08/2012 12:12:12 AM 217 Views
Sad stuff. A great man. A pity to see him go. *NM* - 26/08/2012 01:33:14 AM 168 Views
A sad and great loss, but one can only envy his long full life. - 26/08/2012 02:48:41 AM 436 Views
My thoughts exactly. - 26/08/2012 06:52:31 PM 439 Views
That is just... wow... people are appallingly ignorant. - 26/08/2012 11:19:42 PM 580 Views
It's been a bad week for people named "Armstrong," apparently - 26/08/2012 07:15:49 PM 469 Views
Please not Louis, everyone but not Louis! - 26/08/2012 07:41:12 PM 501 Views
I love you *NM* - 26/08/2012 09:21:51 PM 288 Views
Now that he's dead and his feelings can't be hurt, can we stop pretending the moon thing mattered? - 27/08/2012 11:37:11 PM 478 Views
Not cool Cannoli. *NM* - 28/08/2012 02:09:07 AM 244 Views

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