Atheist fires a shot across scientists’ bows » « Clearly, bloggers need to take over science journalism

Well, I can make a scab…

We movie stars are used to the resentment of the little invertebrates.

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(It desperately needs some correction, though — he ought to refer to himself as “a body-regenerating echinoderm“, singular, rather than using the name of the group.)

Atheist fires a shot across scientists’ bows » « Clearly, bloggers need to take over science journalism

Comments

  1. says

    One could also be picky with the phrase “media is”. Media is plural; singular is medium.

    So, should we send this comic back to the “drawing board”?

  2. says

    No one ever said starfish were the mental giants of the intertidal zone. I’m too impressed that it can manage English without a tongue, lips, or larynx to quibble about its knowledge of dead languages.

  5. Umilik says

    One could also be picky with the phrase “media is”. Media is plural; singular is medium.

    That is so true. I have this ongoing bone to pick re. the use of the word “media” in connection with tissue culture. Maybe someone in this learned crowd can enlighten me ? Is it correct to use the singular term as in “we culture our HeLa cells in this media”. It just sounds awful and wrong, but just about everyone uses it thusly.

    It is one of my favorite past-times when reviewing a manuscript to make a well

  8. says

    With media again, if it said “these media”, perhaps that would be okay. I don’t do biology, so I don’t know if there is more than one medium used in a culturing dish.

    So, possibilities:
    “this medium”
    “these media”
    not “this media”.

    Oh, and someone says “corrector” again, they are only asking for a world of grammatical hurt.
    (This has to be the worst threat ever.)

  12. Suze says

    From the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed.:

    Usage Note: The etymologically plural form media is often used as a singular to refer to a particular means of communication, as in The Internet is the most exciting new media since television. Many people regard this usage as incorrect, preferring medium in such contexts.·People also use media with the definite article as a collective term to refer not to the forms of communication themselves so much as the communities and institutions behind them. In this sense, the media means something like “the press.” Like other collective nouns, it may take a singular or plural verb depending on the intended meaning. If the point is to emphasize the multifaceted nature of the press, a plural verb may be more appropriate: The media have covered the trial in a variety of formats. Frequently, however, media stands as a singular noun for the aggregate of journalists and broadcasters: The media has not shown much interest in covering the trial. This development of a singular media parallels that of more established words such as data and agenda, which are also Latin plurals that have acquired a singular meaning.·The singular medium cannot be used as a collective noun for the press. The sentence No medium has shown much interest in covering the issue, would suggest that the lack of interest is in the means of communication itself rather than in its practitioners.

  13. says

    PZ,

    You wrote

    (It desperately needs some correction, though — he ought to refer to himself as “a body-regenerating echinoderm”, singular, rather than using the name of the group.)

    Please tell me you were kidding. Better yet, please tell the others. A comment with nothing more than a simple smiley face would do the trick (maybe winking).

  14. sailor says

    “, singular, rather than using the name of the group”
    And if you want to be that fussy starfish don’t have eyes.

  16. Mena says

    We movie stars are used to the resentment of the little invertebrates.
    I dunno, they may just be more realistic about the quality of the movies that are coming out these days. Take for example the new Chipmunks movie. It has a trailer that includes one chipmunk putting the poop of another chipmunk in his mouth. I’m going to assume that they are warning us about the quality of that one in advance. There are others but that would make this post way too long!

  17. Suze says

    And if you want to get really really fussy, star fish don’t talk, there are probably leash laws wherever those dogs are, and that body of water appears to have a massive oil spill. I’m not sure !?! is correct punctuation, the G in “ARG” could easily be misread as a 6, and the m- and n-dashes are of inconsistent lengths. The dogs have ill-defined hind legs and could be mistaken for seals. It was probably printed on unrecycled newsprint, and originally drawn in a politically-incorrect era. But otherwise — haha!

  18. JohnnieCanuck says

    One of the animals has ill-defined legs and has been mistaken as a dog. Mooch is a cat.

  19. JohnnieCanuck says

    I usually manage to control my pique over grammatical errors. However, as a member of the RCMP*, I couldn’t let that go.

    Royal Comic Monitoring Police.

  20. Jeebus says

    Peter Griffin: (While videotaping a bag blowing a wind) Look! It’s dancing with me! It’s like there’s this incredibly benevolent force that wants me to know there’s no reason to be afraid. Sometimes, there’s so much beauty in the world, it makes my heart burst.

    God: (Angrily) It’s just some trash blowing in the wind! Do you have any idea how complicated your circulatory system is?