[Ads-l] Heard on Forensic files:

[Barretts Mail]

If it’s a newspaper, there’s definitely ambiguity :)

> On 8 Feb 2018, at 09:23, Dave Hause <dwhause at CABLEMO.NET> wrote:
> 
> For grasping at straws of professional-terminology, my favorite peeve in police jargon is "red in color."  What else can "red" describe?
> Dave Hause
> -----Original Message----- From: Wilson Gray
> Sent: Wednesday, February 7, 2018 11:27 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: Heard on Forensic files:
> 
>> the speaker is a medical professional
> 
> Nope. He was just a local police-detective, probably grasping at a straw
> from the professional-terminology class that he had slept through. After
> all, what would have been wrong with stopping at "lying on her back"?
> That's not open to misinterpretation.
> 
> On Wed, Feb 7, 2018 at 9:30 AM, Baker, John <JBAKER at stradley.com> wrote:
> 
>> I’ll tell you who else knows:  medical professionals.  It isn’t clear from
>> Wilson’s quote whether the speaker is a medical professional, in which case
>> this is an error by the show, or a police officer (who is not a medical
>> professional) or a non-medical civilian, for whom this might be a plausible
>> error.
>> 
>> 
>> John Baker
>> 
>> 
>> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf
>> Of Jonathan Lighter
>> Sent: Tuesday, February 6, 2018 8:48 PM
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>> Subject: Re: Heard on Forensic files:
>> 
>> Of course. But who else knows that?
>> 
>> JL
>> 
>> On Tue, Feb 6, 2018 at 7:43 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com<mailto:hwgra
>> y at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> 
>> > "She was lying on her back, when she was stabbed, _in the prone
>> position_."
>> >
>> > He meant to say, "in the _supine_ position," of course.
>> > --

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