Wrong vs. wrong

[Jesse Sheidlower]

I rather like this example of _wrong_ 'factually incorrect' contrasted
with _wrong_ '(broadly) not right; inappropriate'. From a _Slate_
article about Bob Woodward's book about John Belushi; someone
re-reported it and concluded that Woodward got the facts right but
distorted the details. It's the penultimate sentence:

---
The wrongness in Woodward’s reporting is always ever so subtle. SNL
writer Michael O'Donoghue—who died before I started the book but who
videotaped an interview with Judy years before—told this story about how
Belushi loved to mess with him:

  I am very anal-retentive, and John used to come over and just move
  things around, just move things a couple of inches, drop a paper on the
  floor, miss an ashtray a little bit until finally he could see me just
  tensing up. That was his idea of a fine joke. Another joke he used to do
  was to sit on me.

When put through the Woodward filter, this becomes:

  A compulsively neat person, O’Donoghue was always picking up and
  straightening his office. Frequently, John came in and destroyed the
  order in a minute, shifting papers, furniture or pencils or dropping
  cigarette ashes.

Again, Woodward’s account is not wrong. It’s just...wrong. In his
version, Belushi is not a prankster but a jerk.
---

(From http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2013/03/bob_woodward_and_gene_sperling_what_woodward_s_john_belushi_book_can_tell.single.html)

Jesse Sheidlower
OED

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