Headlines that signal that the story will be misleading and/or stupid

[President Bush]

Nikki Haley's 40% in South Carolina: A crushing loss for her or a '5-alarm fire' for Donald Trump?

That's what USA today asked.



Uaually, beating your opponent by 20 points is considered a good thing. I've seen so many headlines that explain that winning every primary by wide margins shows that Donald Trump is very weak.

Wishfull thinking. In a big way.

This sort of headline is a variation of the "We're smarter than you" headline. Is the plain fact sitting right in front of you real? Or do you need a journalist to explain it to you.

Anyway, today I am going to do my part and go to the polls in Michigan, as a Republican, to vote against Donald Trump. The first time I voted in a Republicn primary was 2016, in the hopes of doing my one small bit to keep him from getting the nomination. It's even less likely to succeed today, but I have to at least do my part.

Screw headlines. How about US Supreme Court rulings that signal what follows will be misleading and/or stupid? Remember Bush v Gore in 2000?

SCOTUS found the state of Florida's court-ordered manual recount of vote ballots in the 2000 presidential election was unconstitutional under the "Equal Protection Clause" of the 14th Amendment.

We were doing a gem and mineral show in the Philadelphia area the weekend before Election Day. I was registered to vote in Austin, TX, and had filled out my absentee ballot for Gore/Lieberman and left the envelope Friday morning at the counter of the motel where were staying under the belief the mail would be picked up that day.

Monday morning we were checking out of the motel and sitting on the counter was my absentee ballot envelope. Don't know if it is still the law but back then the absentee ballot had to be there Election Day Tuesday, not just postmarked by then. That meant I had to overnight the goddamned thing.

In the year 2000 a Texas voter paid twenty dollars to overnight his ballot for a Democrat running for president. How dumb is that?

[stanky]

you don't look texan

[President Bush]

you don't look texan

First Lady was born in Lubbock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSK18G5 ... H&index=62

Some are born Texan, some achieve Texan, and some have a Texan thrust upon them.

[Meadmaker]

"24 expressions with racist origins you should stop saying"



We've all seen variations on this one. A heap of stupid is guaranteed to follow. The only thing I wonder about is whether the authors are trolling. Do they really believe we should stop saying "inner city" because it's racist? Or do they just want to ratchet up outrage, and of course draw clicks to see the advertising?


They didnt include my favorite: Paddy wagon.

But they did include "hooligan", so at least we of Irish ancestry are represented somewhere.


But, sadly, whether the authors are trolling or not, people take them seriously. Over in my FIRST Robotics team, we are no longer allowed to dance to "Cotton Eyed Joe", and the primary branch of code is no longer called "master".

[Admin]

"24 expressions with racist origins you should stop saying"

If you want to really piss people off, insert the word "niggardly" into conversation as often as you can.

[arthwollipot]

I think such expressions will drift naturally out of use simply because people will stop using them. No need for top-down prescriptivism.

[Meadmaker]

I think such expressions will drift naturally out of use simply because people will stop using them. No need for top-down prescriptivism.

The thing is, "such expressions" won't fade away, because most of them are, well, normal. "Long time, no see" is not something that's going to fade away as people stop using "such expressions".

"Jew him down" might. It has been a long time since I've hear that one in actual speach, as opposed to as an example of a bad phrase. (Long time being 40+ years.) Maybe some people still say it. The only other one on the list of 24 that I remember that I found marginally offensive was "Indian giver". That one is another I haven't heard in actual use for many years.

The only way people are going to stop saying "No can do" is if there's some sort of crusade (which....is probably kind of offensive) and some people want to do a bit of virtue signalling by "correcting" other people, and the people just roll their eyes and stop saying it on order to avoid the hassle from the self righteous.

ETA: I went back and looked again. There were a few more examples of ones that I think will fade away just because people are uncomfortable with them because of the racist associations. As with "Jew him down", I think they mostly have already faded. "Uppity" was on the list. Even thought its meaning is not inherently offensive, I associate it mostly with racism, and occasionally with some other sort of bad behavior. It's not a word I would ever use personally, specifically because of its racist associations. That's one that I have actually heard real people really use while being actually racist, although it has been quite a while. I used to associate with more white trash types.

[arthwollipot]

You're literally agreeing with me.

[Meadmaker]

You're literally agreeing with me.

Yes, at least in part. When I first went through the list, I focused on the phrases that I felt were completely and utterly inoffensive, and kind of put out of my mind some of the worse ones. On further review, I found a few more esamples of phrases that made me uncomfortable.

For the purposes of this thread, my focus was on the ridiculous click bait aspects of such a list, as signalled by the headline. As soon as you read the headline, if you are at all familiar with the topic, you know it's going to include examples of "Your ordinary, everyday, speech proves that I am superior to you." One aspect of my thoughts on such articles is whether the authors genuinely believe that saying "No can do" is racist, or if it's just an outrage generator.

[arthwollipot]

Well, it is. It's a stereotype of a particular kind of speech.

Whether it's racist enough for anybody to care is a different matter. If people don't want to use the phrase, they'll stop using it.