30 March 2016

Queen Elizabeth does not lay 2,000 eggs a day


Gaffes like the one highlighted above occur when a style guide (in this case Reuters news service) requires that references to "the queen" be capitalized and her name given in full, and when a 'bot proceeds to check and autocorrect styles before publication.

A tip of the blogging hat to John Farrier who found this and posted it at Neatorama.

5 comments:

  1. Yes, editors, broadcasters, etc - just keep replacing us with things that can't think and this is what you get. SIGH

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  2. I'm reminded of the time the so-called American Family Association auto-corrected the term 'gay' with 'homosexual' with humorous results. Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying.

    http://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2008/jun/30/computerautocorrectssurname

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    Replies
    1. Looks like some interesting material is available at that "counting units in headlines" link; wish I had time to explore it.

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  3. Hi,
    Spoonerisms and malapropisms in general I enjoy, as well as inappropriate fonts.
    Our works weather forecast issued yesterday said the weekend would 'see rain bands passing through but it would be dry in between' so even humans sometimes state the obvious.
    cheers another phil

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  4. ... however, it may indeed be the case that Queen Elizabeth has ten times the lifespan of the average worker. To be seen!

    Lurker111

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