5 ms·

What’s not accurate? When I read “a black hole”, I don’t assume we’re talking about Sagittarius A*, just a black hole.

greglindahl 7y ago
... that's exactly what's inaccurate. It's not just some ordinary black hole, it's the unique one in the Milky Way galaxy.
- Simon_says 7y ago
  I also don’t read it as not Sagittarius A*. I wouldn’t even expect a lay audience to know that name.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- StuffedParrot 7y ago
  ...all definite articles can also be indefinite. The title is absolutely correct.
  - shele 7y ago
    Remind me when you "see a sun rising in the morning" next time. Using an indefinite article here is noticed by the reader and will pose the question "Oh, is there one more?". In language rules are sometimes not as absolute as "all definite articles can also be indefinite".
    - afiori 7y ago
      This is not a proper comparison, as the relevant property is not of something being the only member of a category, but of being the already mentioned one. For the sun we suppose the person speaking knows of THE Sun. For the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy we don't. This can be easily shown as "The Black Hole Threw a Star Out of the Milky Way Galaxy" is clearly misusing the definite article.
      - ncallaway 7y ago
        "The Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way Threw a Star Out of the Galaxy" would probably be an alternate way to write the headline using the definite article. Agree that _just_ an article swap leaves the headline worse off.
        205guy 7y ago
        I agree this is a better headline. In the original, I was left wondering if it was possible for a black hole outside of our Galaxy to eject a star from ours.
        afiori 7y ago
        That should be impossible (unlikely), but it could have been a smaller black hole around the galaxy.
    - StuffedParrot 7y ago
      Odd for sure, but not wrong. Anyway there’s only one sun and many black holes.
  - stjohnswarts 7y ago
    I agree. Also, the average reader of NYT doesn't care or know about the giant black hole at the center of our galaxy and 'black hole' is enough for them to get the point of the story.
- vehementi 7y ago
  So when you say "not very accurate" you're refering solely to how it's not specifying that it's our black hole? As in, the headline is perfectly accurate except it should say "the black hole" instead of "a black hole", and that moves it to "not very accurate" for you?
remcob 7y ago
But we are talking about Sagittarius A*.

... that's exactly what's inaccurate. It's not just some ordinary black hole, it's the unique one in the Milky Way galaxy.

Simon_says 7y ago
I also don’t read it as not Sagittarius A*. I wouldn’t even expect a lay audience to know that name.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
StuffedParrot 7y ago
...all definite articles can also be indefinite. The title is absolutely correct.
- shele 7y ago
  Remind me when you "see a sun rising in the morning" next time. Using an indefinite article here is noticed by the reader and will pose the question "Oh, is there one more?". In language rules are sometimes not as absolute as "all definite articles can also be indefinite".
  - afiori 7y ago
    This is not a proper comparison, as the relevant property is not of something being the only member of a category, but of being the already mentioned one. For the sun we suppose the person speaking knows of THE Sun. For the supermassive black hole at the center of the galaxy we don't. This can be easily shown as "The Black Hole Threw a Star Out of the Milky Way Galaxy" is clearly misusing the definite article.
    - ncallaway 7y ago
      "The Black Hole at the Center of the Milky Way Threw a Star Out of the Galaxy" would probably be an alternate way to write the headline using the definite article. Agree that _just_ an article swap leaves the headline worse off.
      - 205guy 7y ago
        I agree this is a better headline. In the original, I was left wondering if it was possible for a black hole outside of our Galaxy to eject a star from ours.
        afiori 7y ago
        That should be impossible (unlikely), but it could have been a smaller black hole around the galaxy.
  - StuffedParrot 7y ago
    Odd for sure, but not wrong. Anyway there’s only one sun and many black holes.
- stjohnswarts 7y ago
  I agree. Also, the average reader of NYT doesn't care or know about the giant black hole at the center of our galaxy and 'black hole' is enough for them to get the point of the story.
vehementi 7y ago
So when you say "not very accurate" you're refering solely to how it's not specifying that it's our black hole? As in, the headline is perfectly accurate except it should say "the black hole" instead of "a black hole", and that moves it to "not very accurate" for you?

remcob 7y ago

But we are talking about Sagittarius A*.