Althouse: NPR says Obama and Romney "wade into" — or "weighed in" on

May 17, 2012

NPR says Obama and Romney "wade into" — or "weighed in" on — the Scott Walker recall election.

Wait. The headline says they "wade in" and the text says they "weighed in." Those are transcriptions at the NPR website. I prefer "wade in," because it conveys Wisconsin as... swamp-like.

I was writing a more substantial post, but the raw material at NPR was so lame, I deleted what I had. Just one of the many ways I save you time in your busy day.

23 comments:

edutcher said...: You are too good to us, Madame.

And to think the Public Broadcasting thing grew out of educational TV.; 5/17/12, 11:08 AM
vet66 said...: I fear that this has more to do with our education system that puts little, if any, emphasis on spelling, punctuation and grammar. Who proof reads this stuff anyway? In the land of illiteracy spell check is king.; 5/17/12, 11:09 AM
Anonymous said...: You listen so we don't have to! Truth be told I prefer NPR type radio than Rushhannityboortz et al. Even though I almost always disagree with NPR's framing of the topics. Indeed, with the very topics they choose. Anyhows, thanx Althouse.; 5/17/12, 11:09 AM
traditionalguy said...: LOL!

NPR has a weigh with words.; 5/17/12, 11:09 AM
MadisonMan said...: To hell with the recall, Donna Freaking Summer has died.

Nuts.; 5/17/12, 11:10 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Continue the Donna Summer tribute in the next post.; 5/17/12, 11:22 AM
Hoosier Daddy said...: "... I was writing a more substantial post, but the raw material at NPR was so lame,.."

Um, isn't that a feature not a bug?; 5/17/12, 11:24 AM
Joe said...: "the raw material at NPR was so lame"

I generally listen to it during my commute and that about sums up NPR for me.; 5/17/12, 11:37 AM
lemondog said...: OT - Just in time to pump Obama re-election?

Naaaaaaaaaaaah......

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway to buy 63 newspapers; 5/17/12, 11:38 AM
Meade said...: I was writing a more substantial comment, but I deleted it. Just one of the many ways I save you time in your busy day so you can save me time in my busy day...; 5/17/12, 11:41 AM
MadisonMan said...: I also like the wade swamp metaphor.

God's gonna trouble the water.; 5/17/12, 11:45 AM
Rusty said...: NPR

Schwetty Balls

It's the reason I can't listen to it anymore.; 5/17/12, 11:51 AM
damikesc said...: I was writing a more substantial comment, but I deleted it. Just one of the many ways I save you time in your busy day so you can save me time in my busy day...

...but the work was being done before you deleted it.

You didn't efficiently use the time saved by people letting you save them time.; 5/17/12, 12:10 PM
Issob Morocco said...: I think Bog is the more appropriate description of Wisconsin than swamp.

e.g. The Herons landed in the early morning mirror like bog, setting off a rippling that created a disco ball effect with the sun's reflection.

Gotta work that Donna Summer tag in there.; 5/17/12, 12:22 PM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: Speaking of Obama, it turns out that his literary agent was Birther Zero, way back when.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/The-Vetting-Barack-Obama-Literary-Agent-1991-Born-in-Kenya-Raised-Indonesia-Hawaii; 5/17/12, 1:29 PM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: BTW, I don't doubt for a minute that Obama would as easily lie about being born in Kenya to enhance his marketability as a writer as he did when he denied knowing Bill Ayers.; 5/17/12, 1:35 PM
Mark O said...: Now what will I do with my free time? Oh, I can note that either Obama was born in Kenya or he's just the sort of 1/32 liar that we find in Lizzy Warren.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/The-Vetting-Barack-Obama-Literary-Agent-1991-Born-in-Kenya-Raised-Indonesia-Hawaii; 5/17/12, 1:44 PM
Scott M said...: Um...wow.; 5/17/12, 1:44 PM
Just asking questions (Jaq) said...: I wonder how his agent randomly came up with the idea that he was born in Kenya?

Was he lying then, or is he lying now? Who knows? I doubt that lying is a habit he picked up late in life. It's a coin toss. Maybe there is a third possibility that he was actually born someplace completely different. That way, we would at least have the consistency that he was lying both times.; 5/17/12, 1:52 PM
Scott M said...: Was he lying then, or is he lying now?

The very first thing I thought followed closely by Fauxcahontas.; 5/17/12, 1:53 PM
karrde said...: Don't let the problem weigh too much on your mind, while you wait to hear about the ways that the candidates wade in (or weighed in) to the weighty subject of the way that the Wisconsin recalls are being weighed out buy the voters.

...I blame the way that the phrase "wade in" is indistinguishable from the phrase "weighed in" to most listeners. It is possible to distinguish between the two phrases, though.

"Wade in" implies a messy situation or arena which requires a lot of effort to simply move or perform any act. (Like someone attempting to do a job in a swamp or a body of water.)

"Weighed in" implies placing objects on a scale, having weight measured in preparation for an event, or providing thoughts/ideas/opinions to support one side or other of the debate.

The mental image could come from many places:
--Jockeys weigh in before a horse race
--People weigh in their items before the shipper packages them for transit in a ship or truck
--Items brought in to a warehouse and priced by weight need to be weighed in
--Coins were once weighed on a scale to measure their worth before a transaction was completed
--The image of Justice as a woman carrying a balance scale implies that the lawyers at court bring their arguments in to be weighed

Which phrase is a better description of Romney and Obama attempting to affect the situation in Wisconsin?

I would use the second, but the first might also apply. Depending on how tortuous the effort appears in the metaphorical swamp of Wisconsin politics.; 5/17/12, 2:24 PM
mariner said...: Althouse, you've amused me; you've informed me; sometimes you've pissed me off.

But NEVER have you saved me any time. ;); 5/17/12, 2:42 PM
The Elder said...: I prefer "wheyed" in, as in "curds and whey."

I was writing a more substantial comment, but I deleted it. In that the subject was NPR, something frivolous and insignificant was more appropriate.; 5/17/12, 3:06 PM