4 ms·

Interesting. It's dangerous to be a journo in the big city. The newspaper should change its style guide to prohibit the use of the word "accident" to describe

Interesting. It's dangerous to be a journo in the big city. The newspaper should change its style guide to prohibit the use of the word "accident" to describe car crashes, except in verified quotations. They should call them "crashes" or another word that doesn't connote inevitability.

JackFr 9y ago
That would be weird because 1) what they are literally describing is the plain definition of 'accident'; 2) 'Accident' doesn't really connote inevitability.
- lostlogin 9y ago
  The Oxford dictionary almost disagrees, I think you could argue the point. Note the origin too. “by accident Unintentionally; by chance... ...Origin Late Middle English (in the general sense ‘an event’): via Old French from Latin accident- ‘happening’, from the verb accidere, from ad- ‘towards, to’ + cadere ‘to fall’.
- blacksmith_tb 9y ago
  It's worth disagreeing about - calling them 'accidents' removes responsibility from the drivers involved, think about phrases in English like "accidents happen" - which are used specifically for this purpose. Calling them 'crashes' is simply a description of what happened, without any suggestion of why.
pizzetta 9y ago
I'm ambivalent about that. It's one of those words whose meaning has changed in a context. Like trying to take back the word senile to mean "old age". Generally people take accident to mean a "collision", whether intentional or not. Negligent or not.
- SilasX 9y ago
  Perhaps, but I think it's good when major publications use what influence they have to favor precise, accurate language over ambiguous euphemisms.
noblethrasher 9y ago
I took a precision driving training class a couple of years ago. The instructor, a retired state trooper, said that many first responder departments have begun referring to them as "crashes" for the very reason that you mentioned.
poolbath1 9y ago
I thought this as well, and was about to comment to the paper about updating their terminology. Then I saw this is an article from 2014. I think using the word “accident” would be less likely today. There has been a real effort to change terminology. NYT even had an article about this in May of 2016.

JackFr 9y ago

That would be weird because 1) what they are literally describing is the plain definition of 'accident'; 2) 'Accident' doesn't really connote inevitability.

lostlogin 9y ago
The Oxford dictionary almost disagrees, I think you could argue the point. Note the origin too. “by accident Unintentionally; by chance... ...Origin Late Middle English (in the general sense ‘an event’): via Old French from Latin accident- ‘happening’, from the verb accidere, from ad- ‘towards, to’ + cadere ‘to fall’.
blacksmith_tb 9y ago
It's worth disagreeing about - calling them 'accidents' removes responsibility from the drivers involved, think about phrases in English like "accidents happen" - which are used specifically for this purpose. Calling them 'crashes' is simply a description of what happened, without any suggestion of why.

pizzetta 9y ago

I'm ambivalent about that. It's one of those words whose meaning has changed in a context. Like trying to take back the word senile to mean "old age". Generally people take accident to mean a "collision", whether intentional or not. Negligent or not.

SilasX 9y ago
Perhaps, but I think it's good when major publications use what influence they have to favor precise, accurate language over ambiguous euphemisms.

noblethrasher 9y ago

I took a precision driving training class a couple of years ago. The instructor, a retired state trooper, said that many first responder departments have begun referring to them as "crashes" for the very reason that you mentioned.

poolbath1 9y ago

I thought this as well, and was about to comment to the paper about updating their terminology. Then I saw this is an article from 2014. I think using the word “accident” would be less likely today. There has been a real effort to change terminology. NYT even had an article about this in May of 2016.