The Coast Guard said the boat hit the wall at a good speed.

[liberal N proud]

What would be a good speed in a crash?

Boat Hits Breakwall Near Whiskey Island

CLEVELAND - A boating accident caused three people to be sent to the hospital overnight.

Officials said two women, 40 and 62, and a 60-year-old man were injured in the crash. They were not wearing life jackets.

Officials said two are in critical condition. The other is listed in stable condition. Their names have not been released.

The Coast Guard told NewsChannel5 that the boat crashed into the breakwall near Whiskey Island around 1:30 a.m.

The Coast Guard said the boat hit the wall at a good speed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31825411/ns/local_news-cleveland_oh/

[Captain Hilts]

1. I think 'whiskey' is the key word here. nt

[scheming daemons]

2. Based on the result, I would say it hit the wall at a BAD speed....

...

[Winterblues]

3. Five miles per hour could cause injuries.

If people did not see it coming and failed to brace for the crash, a person's body traveling at five miles per hour and striking a solid object could cause serious injury. I doubt there are any seat belts on boats like this one.

[NashVegas]

4. Shrinking Editorial Budgets, And Lowering the Bar

A good copy editor would have put that in quotes, if it was a quote, or removed the slang/colloquial language altogether.

Most news organizations are eliminating copy editors altogether.

We can't really complain about this when we use their services and copy/paste their work all over the internet, free of charge.

[liberal N proud]

5. I think this text is what the news anchor read on air.

The source is a local television station. I am guessing this is word for word what was read on air.

[NashVegas]

6. Colloquial

It's just poor training. It won't get better. Editors who actually gave a shit about stuff like this and had the time to deal with training a staff are retiring.

FWIW, I take a "good speed" to mean "fast clip."

[enlightenment]

8. So they're channeling 18th century speech.

How cute. Not. x(

Wee made Good speed along, which made poor Jemima make many a sow’r face, the mare being a very hard trotter; and after many a hearty and bitter Oh, she at length Low’d out: Lawful Heart father! this bare mare hurts mee Dingeely, I’me direfull sore I vow; with many words to that purpose : poor Child sais Gaffer — she us’t to serve your mother so. I don’t care how mother us’t to do, quoth Jemima, in a pasionate tone. At which the old man Laught, and kik’t his Jade o' the side, which made her Jolt ten times harder.
-Sarah Kemble, 1704

On a completely different note, did you see the article about the publication of the 40 years in the making Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary"? Brilliant stuff!

Here's a link to the website for the text; you can play around with their online snippets whilst saving up the $400 that OU Press is charging for the two-volume set!
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/SESLL/EngLang/thesaur/index.html


Edited to add missing HTML tag

[NashVegas]

9. I'm Quite Fond of 18th Century Language

Though perhaps later, more.

Thanks for the link; if I had an anthropology gig, I'd consider it money well spent.

[bertman]

7. There is no "good" speed when you hit a wall while riding in a boat. But, I think the

expression is probably a colloquialism, as NashVegas points out. How would anyone know the actual speed the boat was traveling when it hit the wall?

I knew what they meant. But I agree 100% that editing and proofreading has gone the way of spelling. F U no wat i mean.