129 points

This is why we dont have cool things any more… we make up our own knowledge just because it seems to fit

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27 points

That’s what I thought when I was a kid but I was told I was wrong!

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25 points

Acronyms didn’t become popular until fairly recently, so if the word is at least a century old, odds are that it isn’t an acronym.

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11 points

But when I take a brake, doesn’t that mean I’m stopping work, hitting the brakes?

When I diffuse a situation, doesn’t that mean I’m thinning out the tension or whatever?

People make up whatever reason they need to avoid going to a dictionary to understand what they’re writing.

(It’s break and defuse, in case anyone was wondering. The first doesn’t need explanation, but defuse is because you want to cut the fuse off from the thing that’s going to blow up, the thing being the situation)

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4 points

People make mistakes. Thems the brakes.

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2 points

People are fucking illiterate, that’s what they are.

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-6 points
*

This is why we don’t have nice things… we rather think that an incorrect statement from a random unknown person on the internet comes from someone lazy or nefarious, that from someone just making a joke.

I think it is funny to think of ‘NEWS’ as a abbreviation, why else would so many news media print it in capitals.

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11 points

The way the internet works, people have no chance to know if you’re kidding or being serious. It takes one misunderstanding, to turn a distribution of a joke into distribution of misinformation

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-3 points

Sure. However there is a difference between “NEWS is a acroym for something” and much more hurtful and/or political/commercial motivated spread of misinformation.

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81 points

NORTH EAST WEST SOUTH

At least that’s what they taught us in journalism school

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73 points

Actually it’s Never Eat While Shitting

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9 points

Oops. Should I not have done that? I mean if anyone had told me that sort of thing is frowned upon I never would’ve…

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15 points

They’re joking. You should actually always eat while shitting and shit while eating. No exceptions.

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4 points

Never eat skunks weiners, actually.

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5 points

NESW

Not Everyone Wins Sayings

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18 points
Removed by mod
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3 points

Why would I do extra research to prove my professor wrong instead of just listening to what they said for the test? Idk you’re right but also assuming a lot lmfao

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6 points

Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the “news of the day” and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy.

Gosh, I dunno. Couldn’t have anything to do with the subject matter, maybe?

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2 points

Wait you’re sticking with that it actually happened not that you were joking? What f-tier journalism school did you go to? And they tested on the origin of the world news, already an insane thing to do to in a journalistic qualification, AND they expected a totally absurd and obviously false answer?

Were you training to work at fox?

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18 points

That doesn’t even make sense, who would refer to cardinal directions in that order?

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10 points

The Catholic Church says hi.:-P

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10 points

Isn’t it forehead chest, shoulder shoulder? So NSEW?

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5 points

I think they do north south east west.

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3 points

Oh. Then it makes sense that South is the final objective.

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5 points

Fun fact they were going to name compasses NEWS but the name was already taken

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1 point

That’s news to me!

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1 point

NORTH EAST WEST SOUTH

all in the same house

Dammit. Now I need to listen to some Escape Club

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64 points

Lol, imagine if “sports” was part of the origin story of news as a concept.

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43 points

I take issue with sports being in headline news practically every day, or multiple days per week at least.

I have nothing against people enjoying sports, but it’s a hobby like any other, which I think is unreasonably thrust upon everyone else.

Where is the eSports news, or competitive dancing, woodworking news, or as I’m sure we can all agree on Lemmy, what about my old electronic gadget of the week news?

When I had The Guardian app, it was quite annoying that sports was lumped in with the push notifications for actual news.

I’m just saying sports news ought to be opt-in like any other hobby.

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12 points

I agree. I can’t stand that every restaurant or bar has to have a TV or 20 that are all tuned to talking heads blowing hot air over what sports guy #876,914 did last night, or what sports guy #1,456,888 will do tomorrow night.

Even when it’s live sports, the broadcast is still more commercials than game, every square inch of the playing area is plastered with ads, plus the ads that are on the overlay, plus this instant replay is brought to you by A1 Hemorrhoid cream, from the Mega-Car Savings Plus Center, at beautiful Jack the Ambulance Chaser Stadium: “When you drive drunk, call Jack to blame on the innocent™!”

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6 points

Oh but haven’t you heard? It’s vital to your career and social life that you pick a sportsball team. Else what ever will you answer when someone asks 😯???

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3 points

I’m gonna sound like an asshole, but that stuff isn’t in there because the people reading newspapers don’t care about those things

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2 points

I should specify, it’s in the context of tv news and other headline notifications in news apps, or front page.

I don’t read print newspapers, and have nothing against sports being covered in any news org, as long as it’s not put front and centre where you can’t escape it haha

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1 point

In Australia they’ve started doing horoscopes as part of the evening news. I’m not joking.

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1 point

Lol, how would they even fit that in? What channel?

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9 points

Byzantine politics did have political parties and professional sports teams as literally the same thing, so it’s not completely insane as a concept.

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3 points
*

Also weather wasn’t part of news (as in published news) at first, unless they were reporting what it was currently doing right now, because it predated forecasting by about 300 years.

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5 points

Oh now, we’ve been predicting the weather far longer than you imagine. We just haven’t been very good at it until fairly recently.

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1 point

When newspapers first started to be published they weren’t printed daily it was just whenever they felt like they had enough news. And it took days for them to create the paper and for them to print all of the copies so even very vague estimates of the weather would have been out of date by the time they were actually selling them.

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41 points

From the Etymonline website:

news (n.) late 14c., “new things,” plural of new (n.) “new thing” (see new (adj.)); after French nouvelles, which was used in Bible translations to render Medieval Latin nova (neuter plural) “news,” literally “new things.”

The English word was construed as singular at least from the 1560s, but it sometimes still was regarded as plural 17c.-19c. The odd and doubtful construction probably accounts for the absurd folk-etymology (attested by 1640 but originally, and in 18c. usually, in jest-books) that claims it to be an abbreviation of north east south west, as though “information from all quarters of the compass.”

The meaning “tidings, intelligence of something that has lately taken place” is from early 15c. The meaning “radio or television program presenting current events” is from 1923. Bad news in the extended sense of “unpleasant person or situation” is from 1926. Expression no news, good news can be traced to 1640s. Expression news to me “something I did not know” is from 1889.

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5 points

Thank you! Their reply was funny, but it would have been helpful to have at least the basic definition there too if they’re going to respond to that person lol

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34 points

I always assumed it was news as plural. Here’s a list of new’s. This is new, that is new.

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9 points

I’m pretty sure this is the actual etymology of news.

People asking each other “what new things?” becomes “what news”, as well as usage like “that information is new to me” becoming “that is news to me”

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8 points

It’s not only okay not to pluralize with an apostrophe, ever, but as a bonus it makes what you wrote into English.

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7 points

Might as well call it Olds then, these days, considering how repetitious it all is.

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1 point

That automobile manufacturer disappeared.

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1 point

Hello fellow old

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6 points

It is, and I hate it

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