Was it a mistimed Halloween joke or ignorance?From Hannah:
Riding Metro last Friday, I heard a recording in at least three Metro stations (Rosslyn, Union Station, Eastern Market) advertising that Metro would open at 5 a.m. that Sunday to accommodate the additional traffic for--get this--the Marine "Corpse" Marathon. At first, I thought it was a one-off, but then I heard the same voice make the same announcement at two other stations.
The voice on the recording didn't seem to be the same one that gives the "walk on the left, stand on the right," or the "excuse me, is that your bag?" announcement.
Way to go, WMATA. I'm not sure you could have come up with a less appropriate (although distastefully hilarious) way to mispronounce a proper noun.
I mean, you'd think someone, somewhere in the recording studio (or in the approval process) would have had a cousin--or someone--who was in the Marines and would have noticed.
Other items:
Why are SmarTrip upgrades delayed again? (GGW)
How do people get to work? (U.S. Census via truthaboutcars.com)
An explanation of bus clumping/clustering (New Scientist via @carlosinhp)
How do you get from BWI to DC w/o taking a cab? (Prince of Petworth)
Remake of Tysons could cost $15 billion (WaPo)
I'm gonna have to go with ignorance on this, but it is quite hilarious. I'm sure they meant no offence to our warriors.
ReplyDeleteIgnorant is putting it mildly, but I also don't think it was intentional - I don't get the feeling that WMATA has a sense of humor, so the fact that tomorrow is Halloween is just a coincidence.
ReplyDeleteHa!! What morons.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they'd watched the news in oh, the past 8 years.
ReplyDeleteWhat's amazing is how many people can't spell Corps. At my old job, an actual ex-Marine misspelled it as "Corp" in an e-mail to the whole company!
ReplyDeleteI believe this is because so many people think that "Corp" is pronounced as "Corps"--i.e., they prounounce "LabCorp" as "lab-core," not pronouncing the "p."
Yeah, it's definitely the Corp-Corps thing. I pronounce Corp as Corps.
ReplyDeleteBut I pronounce Corps as Corps ;)
even less ironic than the marine corps, someone died running the actual marine corps marathon a few years ago...
ReplyDeleteonce again metro, you win and lose so hard that i just can't tell anymore.
This reminds me--you know the announcement by the chief of Metro police where he talks about keeping an eye on your belongings?
ReplyDeletea) I ALWAYS think he's saying "to prevent death," and then realize, no, it's about preventing THEFT.
b) he uses this crazy wording, like "be aware of your belongings, to include cell phones and music players." to include? who says that? why not just "including?"
This is pretty petty - isn't it possible that "Hannah" misheard the announcement? It is difficult to hear under the best of circumstances inside the Metro. I'm all for improving the Metro, but come on - keep your eye on the ball and focus on the real issues (breakdowns, bad customer service).
ReplyDeletelighten up
ReplyDeleteCome on, just another DC Public School graduate doing the "best" job "they" can.
ReplyDeleteMETRO: The Best Jobs Program Stimulus Money (and all other Taxpayer funds) Can Buy!
Actually kinda funny, back in 2005 during the first season of MLB's return to the District (still waiting), a Metro Employee at DC Armory was directing fans to the "National Baseball Game," as if it was a monument.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11/2, being a public school graduate is not a bad thing. Unless someone asks them, it is a 50-50: a Halloween joke gone bad or a misunderstanding of pronouncing a word.
ReplyDeleteEither way - I could care LESS considering they keep trying to kill us all with their uneducated - public OR private - driving, button (door) pushing, etc.
I heard this announcement too and was dismayed that nobody at WMATA caught the mistaken pronunciation.
ReplyDelete