05 June 2012

Probability math is (not) hard; so are(nt) words

Writing headlines and captions for all the content they push to SI.com has got to be challenging. You can't be funny or pithy but you must be interesting and relevant. Bland tends to win out. The problem is that sometimes they say stuff that is plain stupid. Occasionally they use the wrong word, as in this quote from a photo caption about 'potential sponsors being weary [sic] of signing'. That sort of thing really peaks my interest (see what I did there?) because it's the wrong damn word and you'd expect someone that works for a major publication to know the difference.




Just to be clear:

Weary = tired
Wary = cautious
Potential sponsors cannot be tired of sponsoring him, but they may be cautious. Don't you have a copy editor?

That's just words. The editors also fail at basic principles of probability. This is from the front page of si.com a couple days ago. It says:
Charlotte [Bobcats] have a 25% shot of landing the No. 1 pick. 

So far, so good. But the very next sentence says:
The NBA's worst team has won the draft lottery just 3 times in 18 years. That's not great odds for the Bobcats [the NBA's worst team ever]. 



Whoever wrote that is an idiot. Whoever approved it is also an idiot. The odds of the Bobcats winning the lottery are not affected by past years. Whatever happened in previous years has no impact on this year. It's not Judith Miller making stuff up about Iraq but still: don't be stupid. It makes my head hurt. Alot

1 comment:

Four said...

i like it..wow