Terry Mattingly has the story.
The Vatican is known its complex rituals, rich in ancient symbols and mysterious details. Take, for example, the funeral of Pope John Paul II, as described by the International Herald Tribune.
“The 84-year-old John Paul was laid out in Clementine Hall, dressed in white and red vestments, his head covered with a white bishop’s miter and propped up on three dark gold pillows,” wrote Ian Fisher of the New York Times. “Tucked under his left arm was the silver staff, called the crow’s ear, that he had carried in public.”
Get the joke?
You see, that ornate silver shepherd’s crook is actually called a crosier (or “crozier”), not a “crow’s ear.”
Oh, that’s just bad reporting! When you come across a new term, you’re supposed to get the spelling from someone who knows. Otherwise, you’d be writing about a charity dinner with ore-durvs and fillet manyon, where you met a self-proclaimed deb-you-taunt from Nahlins (you know, the city that was hit by the hurricane).
Some speculate Pope Ben Addict may revise the Catholic letter “G”.
BTW, I can’t follow your the links. Maybe that is on my side not yours.
We had a Rod Iron fence put in once, and the realtor trying to sell our house was baffled by my insistence that he not put out brochures unless he spelled it ‘wrought iron’. He almost didn’t believe me even after I pulled out the dictionary.
This one was great…
Pope John Paul II made headlines in 1986 when he visited a synagogue. Thus, a BBC writer said that the new Pope Benedict XVI’s “visit to the Cologne synagogue … will mark only the second time in history that a head of the Catholic Church has entered a Jewish place of worship.” A reader sent me that item with this postscript: “Not counting the apostle Peter, obviously.”
Perhaps reporters should read some history …or even the Bible….(Acts has him there I would think a few times at least…:)
That’s “filay.”
I must confess, though, your reference to “ore-durvs” was a real eye-opener for me. I always thought it was pronounced “horse-douvers.”
During the coverage of JPG’s death, a CNN reporter stated that he was “the first non-Catholic pope in over 450 years”.
These are the same wonderfully qualified folks who essentially catechise the majority of Catholics this day in age, for all “intensive purposes.” 🙂 Most of what Catholics know about Catholicism, they know through the news media.
That is literally the only place I’d ever been exposed to the Church’s teaching on contraception, and of course the media’s coverage of that issue is unbiased.
Maybe they learned from the same place that lead children to identify:
Guinnes is the first book of the Bible
Samson slew the Philistines with the axe of the Apostles
The 6th. Commandment is not to admit adultery
David played an instrument called a liar
Moses died before he reached Canada
The men who followed Jesus were the 12 decibels
And Jesus was betrayed by Judas the Scariest.
We just had a big discussion at work over whether it is called “coming down the pike” or “coming down the pipe”.
It’s pike.
And, where’s a wall when we need one?
How about whether something’s a “mute” point (rampant in the business world).
Or when a low-level employee is a “pee-on” (as a manager wrote in a company-wide memo many years ago).
Or my personal pet peeve, “CHOMPING” at the bit (it’s “champing”).
My editorial sensibilities prickle when I hear/read such things!
‘thann
Ruthann, I am guilty of the “chomping” because of the way my family pronounces “a” as “ah”. I never realized it was “champing”. And you can imagine the fun we had with “mah-tooor” and “mah-tyur”. 🙂
+J.M.J+
More cute things from the mouths of babes:
…And lead us not into Penn Station
But deliver us some email.
Hail Mary, full of grapes…
O my Jesus, I’m a doggie (instead of “I adore Thee”).
– these are all supposedly genuine misstatements from kids.
In Jesu et Maria,
What a stupid mistake to make. everyone knows that crows don’t have ears.
Ruthann,
The “mute point” is a legitimate usage, distinguishable from a “moot point”. At least it is among my father’s children.
A mute point, according to my father, was an issue on which he wasn’t entertaining further discussion.
At least you’ve never heard the “moo point”, you know, something even a cow couldn’t care less about.
“O My God, I’m hardly sorry…”
“Give us this day our jelly bread…”
I get it! This is a joke, like the “Neevil” that came into Narnia on the first day!
If i can add: ‘Blessed art thou, a monk swimming..’
This mistransriptions are actually called ‘Mondegreens’. Just search for it in wikipedia. Anotherone: ‘Grand parade-Grandpa raid’
My personal favorites are from my sister, Julie…
The great songs of the 60’s – Jimi H. singing “Excuse me while I kiss this guy”
or Mick J. crooning “I’ll never leave your beef stew burning.”