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Kill Duck Before Serving:  Red Faces at The New York Times: A Collection of the Newspaper's Most Interesting, Embarrassing and Off-Beat Corrections
 
 
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Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at The New York Times: A Collection of the Newspaper's Most Interesting, Embarrassing and Off-Beat Corrections [Paperback]

Linda Amster (Editor), Dylan Loeb McClain (Editor), Tom Bloom (Illustrator), Allan M. Siegal (Introduction)
2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)


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Book Description

January 14, 2002
That's Fit to Print"
"All the News

On June 21, 1950, the front page slogan appeared like this. By the time the error was noticed, it was too late to correct it that day. But it was corrected, in a manner of speaking, the next day and every day thereafter.

Even Homer nods. Some mistakes are careless oversights while others are genuine howlers. This irresistible collection of notable errors from the pages of The New York Times includes everything from gross historical inaccuracies, glaring misidentifications, and disastrous recipes to a wide range of inexplicable, unsupportable boners. Kill Duck Before Serving is a quirky selection of all the corrections fit to print by one of our most esteemed newspapers.

March 11, 1975
In yesterday's issue, The New York Times did not report on riots in Milan and the subsequent murder of the lay religious reformer Erlembald. These events took place in 1075, the year given in the dateline under the nameplate on Page 1. The Times regrets both incidents.

April 7, 1995
Because of a transcription error, an article about Senator Alfonse M. D'Amato's remarks about Judge Lance A. Ito misquoted the Senator at one point. In his conversation with the radio host Don Imus, he said: "I mean, this is a disgrace. Judge Ito will be well known." He did not say, "Judge Ito with the wet nose."

October 22, 2000
An article about Ivana Trump and her spending habits misstated the number of bras she buys. It is two dozen black, two dozen beige and two dozen white, not two thousand of each.

July 14, 1985
A report misidentified the document on which John Hancock put his famous prominent signature. It was the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Media insiders Linda Amster and Dylan Loeb McClain present Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at the New York Times, a collection of the paper's more unusual corrections. From misidentifying the Albanian national animal where it was "emblazoned on t-shirts worn by" Miss Albania USA contestants, to confusing Rambo for Rimbaud, Times reporters make nearly as many fumbles as the rest of us. In his introduction, assistant managing editor Allan M. Siegal traces the history of the paper's handling of errors. Only in 1970, we learn, did A.M. Rosenthal make a specific section wherein the Gray Lady could fess up. This funny, fast read will please media folks. Line drawings by Tom Bloom.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Linda Amster is manager of news research at The New York Times.

Dylan Loeb McClain is manager of graphics for Business Day.

Allan M. Siegal is an Assistant Managing Editor at The Times and co-author of The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage.

Tom Bloom’s drawings have appeared in The NewYork Times, The New Yorker and Time magazine.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 256 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (January 14, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312284276
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312284275
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,433,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

 

Customer Reviews

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2.7 out of 5 stars (7 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at The New York Times, January 2, 2002
By A Customer
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This review is from: Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at The New York Times: A Collection of the Newspaper's Most Interesting, Embarrassing and Off-Beat Corrections (Paperback)
Hilarious and informative, this collection of corrections from the ever-so-proper New York Times should please anyone who has ever worked in journalism and anyone who either loves or hates The Times. The wry chapter headings -- "Half-Baked," "Sorry, Wrong Number," "Quote, Unquote" and so on -- are a perfect set up for the send up. The book takes its title from a correction published on April 25, 1981: "An article about decorative cooking incorrectly described a presentation of Muscovy duck by Michael Fitoussi, a New York chef. In preparing it, Mr. Fitoussi uses a duck that has been killed." From other entries, you can learn such things as how many bras Ivana Trump buys at a time, the correct definition of a nanometer and how to spell the names of famous artists, politicians and sports figures (and how many times The Times got each of them wrong).
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Amusing? Sometimes. Hilarious? Not Really., May 18, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at The New York Times: A Collection of the Newspaper's Most Interesting, Embarrassing and Off-Beat Corrections (Paperback)
Be sure you buy this book with the right expectations. It's not a collection of uniformly hilarious bungles like the "Anguished English" series. As an earlier reviewer noted, there are a few genuinely funny bloopers mixed with many, many dry errors of fact, number, or spelling. There's an irritating undertone of "Look how we at the great New York Times can laugh at ourselves" here, and it doen't make for entertaining reading.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars Some gems, but neither humorous nor useful, April 21, 2007
By 
Charlene Vickers (Winnipeg, Manitoba) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at The New York Times: A Collection of the Newspaper's Most Interesting, Embarrassing and Off-Beat Corrections (Paperback)
There are two ways in which a book such as "Kill Duck Before Serving" can succeed: as a comedy or as a warning. "Kill Duck Before Serving" does neither.

Yes, there are some funny errors in this book (most of which are mentioned in one of the editorial reviews published on this page), but most of the errors are as boring as any corrections page. Consider this one from page 90: "Page 52 of some copies on Saturday was blank." Is that something most people are interested in? Is that funny? It didn't seem so to me.

The book also fails as an exercise in journalistic transparency. No information is given as to why these specific mistakes were chosen to appear in the book. There's no commentary explaining why the errors happened in the first place, or discussion of how errors (such as the erroneous report that Bill Clinton tied up an airport to get his hair cut - I'm sure most Americans still believe this to be the gospel truth) can cause serious damage to an individual's or a corporation's image.

I did enjoy Tom Bloom's drawings, which livened up some of the duller corrections.

I don't particularly recommend this book.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Because of a transmission error, an interview with Mary Matalin, the former deputy manager of the Bush campaign who is a co-host of a new talk show on CNBC, quoted her incorrectly on the talk show host Rush Limbaugh. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
picture caption, this correction
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
The Times, United States, New York City, White House, United Nations, World War, President Clinton, Queen Elizabeth, South America, Vice President Al Gore, George Washington, Seguin Moreau, Senator Joseph, Business Day, Dubaka Leigh, Dymocks Flyer, Electoral College, Jimmy Carter, Kate Carmel, King Henry, New Jersey, Pope Leo, Science Times, The Amsterdam News, The Associated Press
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