Question and Answer

The following is an excerpt from OpinionJournal’s “Best of the Web” at WSJ written by the editor, James Taranto.

Question and Answer

• “Model Shows How the Brain Makes Complex Decisions”—headline,University of Cambridge website, Feb. 5
• “Cindy Crawford Announces Retirement From Modeling Ahead of Her 50th Birthday”—headline, National Post (Toronto), Feb. 1
• “Supermodel Cindy Crawford, Turning 50, Denies Plans to Retire”—headline, Reuters, Feb. 2

It’s Always in the Last Place You Look
“ ‘Missing’ Singaporean Woman Says She Travelled to Romania to Look for Internet Boyfriend”—headline, Straits Times, Feb. 3

Mano Man
A press release announcing the latest Quinnipiac poll includes this quote from assistant director Tim Malloy:

“But that’s not the whole story nine months before Election Day. In mano a mano, or mano a womano, face-offs with all contenders, Sanders and Rubio would be the candidates left standing,” Malloy added.

The word mano does not mean “man”; it means “hand.” Moreover, while it is gendered, as are all Spanish nouns, it is feminine, an exception to the usual rule that nouns ending in “o” are masculine. So if Malloy really wanted to use a bilingual politically correct portmanteau, he should have said “manmano a manmano, or manmano a mano face-offs.”

As to why anyone would want to say or write such nonsense, we can only shrug our hombros.

For more “Best of the Web” click here and look for the “Best of the Web Today” link in the middle column below “Today’s Columnists.”