Althouse: "Incredibly, he was able to instead survive by following a group of monkeys, who dropped him fruit and lead him to shelter and water every day."

March 25, 2017

"Incredibly, he was able to instead survive by following a group of monkeys, who dropped him fruit and lead him to shelter and water every day."

"Maykool had been found in very weak condition; nine days in the rainforest had left him dehydrated, his skin ravaged by bites, botflies, and spines, his feet and ankles painfully swollen."

29 comments:

Chuck said...: The monkeys "led" him. In the past tense.

The monkeys would "lead" him, if they were doing it in the present tense.

Is this bad-grammar day at Althouse? I for one am never going to make the "flounder" error ever again.; 3/25/17, 1:39 PM
Ann Althouse said...: @Chuck

It's a quote. In National Geographic.

I could put a "sic" in there.; 3/25/17, 1:43 PM
mockturtle said...: Well, the ravens fed Elijah. I shudder to think just what it was they fed him but it kept him alive.; 3/25/17, 1:43 PM
mockturtle said...: It's a quote. In National Geographic.

I'm not surprised. The mistakes are rampant today, even in the headlines. I suspect 'spell-check' to be partly responsible.; 3/25/17, 1:45 PM
Fernandinande said...: The monkeys were gracious, handsome and tieless.; 3/25/17, 1:53 PM
Ann Althouse said...: Aeschylus was killed (supposedly) when an eagle dropped a tortoise on his head.; 3/25/17, 2:07 PM
Robert Cook said...: "I'm not surprised. The mistakes are rampant today, even in the headlines. I suspect 'spell-check' to be partly responsible."

Yes, and concomitant with that, live proof-readers are no longer considered an essential job by many publishers of printed matter. It's beyond stupid for a publisher to eradicate proof-readers to cut costs, and can only be a corporate decision, typically unmoored from any consideration other than the financial.; 3/25/17, 2:13 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: The monkeys were more likely throwing fruit at the annoying intruder who kept following them. They probably threw poop at him too but he was too dumb to notice.

Bot flies are horrible!!!!! (only Google this if you have a strong stomach); 3/25/17, 2:30 PM
Chuck said...: Chuck said...
Chuck said...
Ann Althouse said...
@Chuck

It's a quote. In National Geographic.

I could put a "sic" in there.

Nooooo!

I knew it was a quote!

I never for an instant thought it was your misusage!

I sort of thought that you had picked that quote out of a rather long story, with a lot of incredible click-producing quotes, because of that NG author's misuse.

Goodness gracious, I'd never expect that kind of error out of you.

An interesting exercise; go back and read my post in light of my having no intent to criticize Althouse, but rather that she was leading her flock to expose another clumsy English error in print.; 3/25/17, 2:32 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: What's the Bolivian term for hoax?; 3/25/17, 2:44 PM
Rae said...: Sounds like a superhero origin story, excepts it'd be politically incorrect to call anyone "Monkey Man" in modern times.; 3/25/17, 2:50 PM
Big Mike said...: A long time ago I had some survival training and they told us that if monkeys eat it then it's safe for us. If monkeys avoid it, don't eat it. Apparently good advice.; 3/25/17, 3:04 PM
YoungHegelian said...: @DBQ,

Bot flies are horrible!!!!! (only Google this if you have a strong stomach)

Yep, but if you're in an area that has bot flies, if you're getting munched by hundreds of mosquitoes, you're gonna get munched by a dozen or so bot fly larvae. That's because the bot fly eggs are attached to mosquitoes by female bot flies & that's how they find hosts.; 3/25/17, 3:33 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: @ YoungHegelian

Yuck. That makes it even worse! :-0; 3/25/17, 3:37 PM
boycat said...: ...excepts it'd be politically incorrect to call anyone "Monkey Man" in modern times.

Tweeter and Bob Dylan beg to differ.; 3/25/17, 3:43 PM
David said...: Later, he learned that he had been hallucinating and the droppings were not fruit.; 3/25/17, 3:55 PM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: So he held on to life, monkey-style?; 3/25/17, 4:03 PM
mockturtle said...: Cookie says: Yes, and concomitant with that, live proof-readers are no longer considered an essential job by many publishers of printed matter. It's beyond stupid for a publisher to eradicate proof-readers to cut costs, and can only be a corporate decision, typically unmoored from any consideration other than the financial.

Maybe they figure no one will notice or care. I was a proofreader on a newspaper for a while back in the pre-computer age. Letting an edition go out with an error in a headline would have been cause for beheading.; 3/25/17, 4:12 PM
Etienne said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/25/17, 4:28 PM
Mary Beth said...: I don't think I could positively identify any of my children's socks as definitely belonging to them.; 3/25/17, 4:57 PM
Kevin said...: They really should have saved this story for the undoubtedly upcoming National Geographic Special where Obama visits the rainforest.

That all the animals flock to him and bring tokens of their affection will entertain childlike thinkers of all ages.; 3/25/17, 5:31 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Maybe they figure no one will notice or care. I was a proofreader on a newspaper for a while back in the pre-computer age. Letting an edition go out with an error in a headline would have been cause for beheading."

In this day where "u" and "ur" and other such abominations are commonly used in text messages, and the rampant use of "of" for "have" (as in "I would of") seemingly everywhere, (and the reflexive use of the idiotic "LOL" for no reason after every other phrase in a text message), they may be right that no one notices or cares. Tragic.; 3/25/17, 7:04 PM
mockturtle said...: Cookie, I have to defend the use of LOL. It's so much easier than saying, "That was most amusing." I don't have an issue with abbreviations and acronyms but I do have an issue with out-and-out errors, mostly of the homonym sort, due to spell-check reliance. And then there is Dragon, along with similar programs, making the outcome even more hazardous.; 3/25/17, 7:52 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: Possibly the most diverse set of comments ever seen on a news story over there.

The most amusing and Althouse commenter-ish:

H. Kohler 11 hours ago
ALTERNATE HEADLINE:

After disrespecting Pachamama, Mapajo's energy directed by Duende obfuscates Maykool; 3/25/17, 8:24 PM
YoungHegelian said...: After disrespecting Pachamama, Mapajo's energy directed by Duende obfuscates Maykool

Is Pachamama's divine twin sister Natchomama?

Just askin' for a friend, you understand. I'm cancelling any & all trips to ecological tourist destinations just to be on the safe side.; 3/25/17, 9:24 PM
DavidD said...: A lot of spelling errors, I think, are from people who heard (or mis-heard) the words rather than read them. You can thank TV for that.

Maybe blogs will reverse that.

But probably not.; 3/25/17, 9:38 PM
mockturtle said...: Is Pachamama's divine twin sister Natchomama?

No, you're thinking of Yomamma.; 3/25/17, 11:06 PM
Quaestor said...: Big Mike wrote: A long time ago I had some survival training and they told us that if monkeys eat it then it's safe for us. If monkeys avoid it, don't eat it. Apparently good advice.

I hope you didn't pay too much for that "survival" training because that is dangerous advice. In fact, that truism is only true regarding chimpanzees and bonobos. Gorillas and orangutans both eat a lot of bulky plant matter that humans can't even digest, including some things that are downright toxic in sufficient quantities. Cladistically speaking Pan is closer to Homo than to Pongo or Gorilla, which explains why what they eat is safe for us. Monkeys, however, should not be trusted in this regard, particularly the monkeys of the Western Hemisphere. Taken as a group they are known as the platyrrhines, distinguishing them from the catarrhines or Old World monkeys. It used to be thought that the New World simians were closer to us because their nostrils are round like ours and the catarrhines more distant because their noses are more feline in appearance. Genomic comparisons have proven the reverse to be true, however. The New World monkeys diverged from our lineage about 27 million years ago. Eating what the monkeys eat, particularly in the jungles of Bolivia, can get you killed.; 3/26/17, 8:22 AM
Rusty said...: You can eventually find the city auto impound by following the piles of human excrement behind the pillars that hold up lower Whacker Drive.
This has been a public service announcement.; 3/26/17, 9:15 AM