Friday, January 11, 2008

Something fishy here.

S brought this to my attention: I was too busy melting to notice, but I do agree with her.

The caption under this photo was, "Fisherman hooks monster shark in rubber dinghy." The error was compounded by the headline in the attendant article: "Man catches bronze whaler in dinghy"

This, of course, begs the question: what was the shark doing in a rubber dinghy?

I suppose it's possible it can't swim, and needs a boat to get around? Was the dinghy actually owned by the shark, or had it stolen it? Perhaps it has seen the movie, "Jaws", and is afraid to go in the water? Maybe the shark had embraced technology and the dinghy was equipped with a fish finder, and the poor creature was only looking for lunch? Being a bronze whaler, could it have been trying to maintain the image of the bronzed Aussie? Or could it have been a cast member of "Westside Story" just looking to spend a little time on the water?

Even if we never find an answer to this conundrum, one thing is absolutely certain. At the end of this saga, something is going to end up battered. It'll just be a toss up which will be more so: the fish or the grammar.

2 comments:

Gina E. said...

LOL Pete, I saw this too! Limelight Magazine (ABC music mag) has a regular page featuring grammatical errors found in the media (both vocal and printed). This would be a prime example - I wonder if the Limelight writer has seen it??

Gargoyle said...

The dinghy in the background isn't rubber, either!
I have seen a clip on "Funniest Home Videos" once: Guys in dinghy hook and land shark; shark comes on board; guys jump over the sides... totally hilarious!