Even though this story from NBC Miami is about North Miami Beach, that’s not what got my attention. I yawned when I started reading the article, Cops Stop Drivers at North Miami Beach Car Insurance Checkpoint. Then I got to the final two paragraphs and realized it was more cringe-worthy than blog-worthy. And yet, strangely enough, here I am writing about it anyway.
Can you spot the error? Anyone?
If you guessed that “livelihood” is one word and not two (as in “lively hood”), you just got an A on the assignment.
Apparently, journalism school no longer requires students to know how to spell. Worse, this faux pas escaped the eagle-eyed editor, who is obviously not fully versed in the fine art of reading. (And I thought MY typos were humiliating!)
Spell-check would be completely useless in this case since “lively” and “hood” are perfectly good words in and of themselves. But used together, they do not refer to one’s “livelihood.”
Here are examples of each usage:
1. I live in a lively hood.
2. Thank goodness my livelihood doesn’t depend on this blog.
Class dismissed.
Stephanie Kienzle
“Spreading the Wealth
Maybe what he was saying was “my truck was slammed into someone who lived in the hood.”
That must have been what he meant! DUH!
Ah, my misunderstanding. I thought the driver was a porn star, and he suffered a genital injury in the accident. In that sense, lively hood could have been a double entendre. But no doubt, you’re right, and it was just a misspelling.
I’m not sure I even want you to explain that to me.
On second thought, I am sure. Don’t.
🙂
Breaking news: After being tweeted into humiliation by me and Random Pixels, reporter Bobby Brooks at NBC Miami corrected his column.
No thanks necessary, Bobby. We got your back. 😉
Police go look for crime. We’re not in Mayberry anymore.
If you were to read Channel 7’s stories on their Android or IPhone apps, you would see many misspelled words and conjugated words/phrases that would make you go crazy. It makes me wonder if the stories are even edited before going on the air, much less posted for everyone to read.