Thursday, April 19, 2012

Where's that copy editor?

I couldn't resist sharing this head-scratcher in today's LA Times about a man found burned to death:

"It was unclear whether he was alive at the time of his death, said Lt. Matt Burson."



7 comments:

Calypso said...

A grim subject, but indeed a funny sentence - kind of like "waking up dead".

Mike Landfair said...

Wonderful catch!

NWexican said...

If I am reading that correctly it was a quote from a police Lieutenant

1st Mate said...

Calypso: Black humor, we call it. Very popular in Mexico.

ML - Yes, I had to read it over a few times...Did he really say that?

NWexican - True, police lieutenants don't have copy editors. They're on their own.

jomomma said...

Maybe they didn't want to misquote him in the paper. This is something you would see Jay Leno poking fun at.

1st Mate said...

Having been an ink-stained wretch at more than one newspaper in my checkered past, I'm guessing the reporter took the quote down with a straight face, filed the story as is, and he and the copy editor got a good laugh out of it. Newspapers love to make cops look inarticulate.

jomomma said...

Where's the like button on that comment?