I'll get to the story of the focus group later on today, but I had to point this out. Articles like this one get my dander up. I’m such a grammar Nazi that when I read this my jaw actually dropped completely off my face. I thought the AP was supposed to have standards? Maybe they fired all their editors…
Associated Press Feb. 8, 2006 08:40 AM
SHERIDAN, Colo. - The Super Bowl turned out to be a blast for a Colorado couple, but not the way they figured it.
According to authorities, Norman Frey and his girlfriend planned to set off some homemade fireworks at a Super Bowl party Sunday.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson says the couple blew up their car while transporting a balloon filled with explosive gas. Robinson says it's amazing they weren't killed.
The balloon contained acetylene, the gas used in welding torches. Robinson says static electricity may have set off the explosion.
Both the man and woman suffered busted eardrums. Frey now faces a felony explosives charge, but his girlfriend won't be prosecuted.
Comments
I giggled a little bit that they used "busted" when they probably meant something that sounded less like playground-talk, though.
I'm probably likening it to how I think it should have been written - using "burst" instead of "busted"; e.g. "both suffered from burst eardrums".
Again, I'll open it up to the masses, as I really am curious what is correct.
Oh, I think I know what the problem is: suffer actually has two slightly different meanings. "Suffered" without "from" means "experienced [something bad]," while "suffered from busted eardrums" means "miserable as a result of the busted eardrums." Which would be incorrect, because for all we know, they might have enjoyed the busted eardrums.
And "busted" is just funnier than "burst."