He took to the game like a duck to water

[Scooter]

[Bicycle Bill]

On the plus side, at least they spelled it right.
(although my gut hunch is that it's more than likely because of SpellCheck than anything else)

-"BB"-

[Scooter]

What gets me is they got it right in the text, why fuck it up in the headline?

[Bicycle Bill]

What gets me is they got it right in the text, why fuck it up in the headline?

Ambidextrous is twelve letters long, amphibious is only ten — and I notice that the headline with the incorrect (but shorter) word spans the entire space allocated for it.  So perhaps it was an ignorance of synonyms combined with space constraints in laying out the page, maybe?

-"BB"-

[MajGenl.Meade]

I thought all pitchers had both arms?

[Bicycle Bill]

I thought all pitchers had both arms?

There have been a couple who had lost all or part of one arm, or suffered some other deformity to one hand.



-"BB"-

[Burning Petard]

Scooter, you are too kind. What is the name and home city for the newspaper with the amazing headline editor?

snailgate

[Scooter]

I have no idea. I saw it somewhere and reposted it. I suspected it might be a joke, but then like Bicycle Bill I recognized there was no way that "ambidextrous" would have fit in that headline, so it had to be real.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Everyone who writes needs a good editor
10th June, 2015 · tctedesco 7 Comments
By Tina Tedesco, June 9, 2015
You probably saw it on Twitter or Facebook already. I’m talking about the amazing pitcher for the Oakland A’s. This guy is exceptional! I don’t know much about baseball, but I do know that being an ambidextrous pitcher is awesome. But, according to the East Oregonian, A’s Pitcher, Pat Venditte, is also amphibious. Let’s give credit where credit is due – the AP Sports Writer, Howard Ulman, didn’t make this fatal mistake. Ulman knows his left from his right. It was the headline writer or copy desk editor or that guys who used to deliver the paper turned writer overnight. Now, everyone from Sports Illustrated to, well, just about everyone on social media, is talking about Venditte. To the credit of the East Oregonian, the headline has since been corrected. But, it’s too late for the reputation of this small town paper. Thanks to the World Wide Web, this mistake will live forever. At a time when print publications need every subscriber they can get, a mistake like this can sink you.

East Oregonian Main Address & Mailing Address

211 S.E. Byers Ave.
Pendleton, OR 97801

Hermiston Office
333 East Main St.
Hermiston, OR 97838

[Long Run]

Yeah, go to Hermiston for the watermelons, not the headline editors.

[MGMcAnick]

One of the guys who works for me is a fairly intelligent high school graduate pushing 50 years old. He ads three column numbers, three deep, in his head. Stuff like that.

One day he referred to himself as HAMPSTERDEXTEROUS.
"Huh?" I said.
"You know, I can use both hands for everything, like a hampster" he answered. Yes, he draws, writes, and twists the occasional wrench well with either hand.

I didn't have the heart to correct him.

[Long Run]

HAMPSTERDEXTEROUS.

That describes a drug dealer in The Wire who sells both heroin and cocaine.

[Joe Guy]

Or a serial killer police forensic expert hamster...

Dexter

[Lord Jim]

Amphibious Pitcher

[Bicycle Bill]

You know there's gotta be at least one team somewhere, in some city in the minor leagues, that has "Bullfrogs" as a nickname ... and that they have been referred to as "the Amphibians" in at least one newspaper article....

-"BB"-