AP misquote about Jewish mourning called ‘correction of the year’
Agency hears ‘sit and shiver’ when Florida sheriff said families of school shooting victims were ‘sitting shiva’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleMichael Bachner is a news editor at The Times of Israel
A mangled Hebrew term became the focus of numerous amused social media posts and news reports after a correction was published on Monday by the Associated Press.
Editors noted that a reporter had misquoted a Florida sheriff after a shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in which 17 students and staff were killed, five of whom were Jewish.
The official, Scott Israel, had apparently been recounting his visits to the Jewish victims’ homes where families were “sitting shiva,” referring to the seven-day Jewish mourning period in which relatives stay at home and receive visitors. But the reporter, unfamiliar with the term, transcribed the quote as “sit and shiver.”
The agency on Monday published a corrected version of the February 22 article, with a note informing readers of the correction.
AP out here with a correction of the year (so far) pic.twitter.com/KWUcepxeS2
— Barving Badly SZN (@TheScudStud) February 26, 2018
“The Associated Press misquoted Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel in some versions of the story when he spoke about the families of the victims. He said, ‘I’ve been to their homes where they’re sitting shiva,’ not ‘where they sit and shiver,'” it said.
Apparently, the @AP thinks Jews in mourning "sit and shiver." https://t.co/ya3kpS0LkX #smh pic.twitter.com/rSmf558zOG
— Martin Lieberman ????️ (@martinlieberman) February 26, 2018
The note quickly gained traction on social media, with one Twitter user declaring it “a correction for the ages,” and another calling it “the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.”
https://twitter.com/JZTessler/status/968169810239676416
https://twitter.com/MuffMacGuff/status/968173964651479040
https://twitter.com/atrubek/status/968189629282357252
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