thedrifter
03-24-07, 11:50 AM
TV misspelling spurs response from the Corps
By Beth Zimmerman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 24, 2007 10:48:46 EDT
When the host of a television game show asked callers to identify the missing letter in the word “Corps,” there was one problem: There were actually two letters missing.
Despite “a conscious effort to fact-check each and every one” of their shows before they air, My Games Fever left the “s” out of Corps and offered its viewers $500 to identify what it said was the only missing letter in “Cor_,” according to a March 15 clip of the show forwarded to Marine Corps Times by Marine Corps headquarters.
“Anybody in the armed services, not just the Marines, you guys know what this word is. … Tell me what that missing letter is, just that one letter,” the show’s host challenged viewers in the clip.
The show, which is recorded in Miami, airs live Monday through Friday afternoons on “various Fox television stations,” according to the Games Fever Web site. Viewers receive chances to answer the question on air by submitting an entry form on the Web site or sending a text message to the show.
When a spokeswoman for Marine Corps headquarters e-mailed the show to point out “Corps” actually ends with an “s,” she was dismissed by a customer service representative.
“The noun CORP can be used in a singular form, for example: Marine CORP base, CA. We appreciate your feedback and always strive to provide you with the best programming possible,” the March 16 e-mail response said.
“Excuse me, I know how to spell my own name,” Staff Sgt. Christina Delai told Marine Corps Times a week later.
She responded immediately to the customer service representative. “We’d really appreciate it if you’d reference our institution correctly, especially considering the more than 230 years that we’ve been faithfully serving as a military service,” Delai wrote in response, including the correct reference to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., in her e-mail.
“It was never our intention to offend anyone,” the company said later that day in a response to questions from Marine Corps Times. “We do make a conscious effort to fact-check each and every one of our games before they go on air. As you will see in our correspondence with SSgt. Delai, the word ‘corp’ does appear in Dictionary.com without the ‘s.’ ”
The third result for “corp” on Dictionary.com describes the word as a noun and a synonym for “corporation.”
The fourth result in the same search lists only “Marine Corp Base, CA,” and a 92055 zip code, with the source cited as “U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau.” There is no definition or reference to singular or plural use.
A search for “Corps” and “Marine Corps” on the same Web site brings up results for “the U.S. Marine Corps.”
Ellie
By Beth Zimmerman - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday Mar 24, 2007 10:48:46 EDT
When the host of a television game show asked callers to identify the missing letter in the word “Corps,” there was one problem: There were actually two letters missing.
Despite “a conscious effort to fact-check each and every one” of their shows before they air, My Games Fever left the “s” out of Corps and offered its viewers $500 to identify what it said was the only missing letter in “Cor_,” according to a March 15 clip of the show forwarded to Marine Corps Times by Marine Corps headquarters.
“Anybody in the armed services, not just the Marines, you guys know what this word is. … Tell me what that missing letter is, just that one letter,” the show’s host challenged viewers in the clip.
The show, which is recorded in Miami, airs live Monday through Friday afternoons on “various Fox television stations,” according to the Games Fever Web site. Viewers receive chances to answer the question on air by submitting an entry form on the Web site or sending a text message to the show.
When a spokeswoman for Marine Corps headquarters e-mailed the show to point out “Corps” actually ends with an “s,” she was dismissed by a customer service representative.
“The noun CORP can be used in a singular form, for example: Marine CORP base, CA. We appreciate your feedback and always strive to provide you with the best programming possible,” the March 16 e-mail response said.
“Excuse me, I know how to spell my own name,” Staff Sgt. Christina Delai told Marine Corps Times a week later.
She responded immediately to the customer service representative. “We’d really appreciate it if you’d reference our institution correctly, especially considering the more than 230 years that we’ve been faithfully serving as a military service,” Delai wrote in response, including the correct reference to Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif., in her e-mail.
“It was never our intention to offend anyone,” the company said later that day in a response to questions from Marine Corps Times. “We do make a conscious effort to fact-check each and every one of our games before they go on air. As you will see in our correspondence with SSgt. Delai, the word ‘corp’ does appear in Dictionary.com without the ‘s.’ ”
The third result for “corp” on Dictionary.com describes the word as a noun and a synonym for “corporation.”
The fourth result in the same search lists only “Marine Corp Base, CA,” and a 92055 zip code, with the source cited as “U.S. Gazetteer, U.S. Census Bureau.” There is no definition or reference to singular or plural use.
A search for “Corps” and “Marine Corps” on the same Web site brings up results for “the U.S. Marine Corps.”
Ellie