Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site watmum.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!watnot!watmum!mvclase
From: mvclase@watmum.UUCP (Michael Clase)
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Subject: Re: Ambigious newspaper line
Message-ID: <248@watmum.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 9-Aug-85 10:47:28 EDT
Article-I.D.: watmum.248
Posted: Fri Aug  9 10:47:28 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Aug-85 02:45:52 EDT
References: <514@scc.UUCP> <2162@hcradm.UUCP>
Reply-To: mvclase@watmum.UUCP (Michael Clase)
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 32
Summary: Flame about pedants

In article <2162@hcradm.UUCP> steve@hcradm.UUCP (Steve Pozgaj) writes:
>In reference to:
>
>>	I was reading the newspaper and I read:
>
>>	". . . the shadowy Islamic Jihad terrorist group called
>>	 the Associated Press of Beirut, . . ."
>
>>	. . . Hmm, strange name for a terrorist group!
>
>Let's just point out that *if* there were a comma after the
>word "group", then this would be witty, since it would infer a
>reflexive participle phrase (I think that's what they're called).
>This would come across as "the group, called AP of Beirut, ...".
>
>However, as it stands, the sentence makes perfect sense: "the
>group in question placed some form of call to the AP of Beirut".
>
>	Steve "Grammar Vigilante" Pozgaj
>	{decvax!watmath!utzoo}!hcr!steve


Flames on.

Why do people insist on continually posting articles nit-picking about
grammar and spelling?  I'm sure the poster of the original quote knew
what the sentence actually meant but felt that at a quick glance it
could be misinterpreted in an amusing way.  We don't need an English
lesson everytime someone posts an article, at least not in net.jokes.
Why doesn't someone create net.highschool-english-teacher so that
all those people on the net who delight in posting follow ups with
spelling corrections have somewhere to go.