Do They Even Understand The Language?

[filkertom]

I giveth not the slightest defecation regarding L'Affaire de Tiger. (Several l'affaires, apparently. Or lays affaire. Or somethin'.) However, I am amused and annoyed at a news item today.

Before I tell you, understand that, around the corner from my place, there is a gas station which has a sticker on every pump, asking you to "Please Prepay In Advance".

huskiebear has noted the sign that says "Fresh Jerky".

Well, today we are informed that Tiger Woods' wife Elin is renegotiating her prenup.

[pinches bridge of nose]

Look, lady (and her spokesperson, and the various lawyers, and Jay Busbee, the guy who wrote the article). It's a prenuptial agreement. That means it's nailed down before the wedding, which was five years ago. Changing the terms now may be called any of several things, but I seriously don't think "prenuptial" is among them.

I dunno, though. Maybe I'm so isolated from these things that people renegotiate prenups all the time. I'm not a lawyer... just a relatively literate person.

Of course, the biggest crime is that this shit is all over the news media rather than the escalation in Afghanistan (there's a bumper sticker you may have seen, which says, "It is impossible to simultaneously prevent and prepare for war"), the continued gutting of the health care bill, the still-hideous unemployment numbers, the impending running-out of unemployment benefits, the lack of H1N1 vaccine... noooooo, the breaking news is Tiger fuckin' Woods. (The FuMP will have something to say about that tomorrow, by the way.)

Thoughts?

Comments

[capplor.livejournal.com]

Thank you for expressing my sentiments so much more forcefully than I have done. It seems at times that we, as a nation of news consumers, would rather run after the shiny than actually attempt to understand something with a little more depth than an empty kiddie wading pool.

Yeesh!

[lizziecrowe.livejournal.com]

Incredible. Understandable that she would want to do something, but calling it a prenup isn't it. It's in tatters anyway, so just call it prepping for divorce and call ti a day, because that IS what's happening.

But as you said, WHY IS THIS EVEN AN ISSUE RIGHT NOW?!! I asked my coworkers who were squawking about this yesterday and never got an answer. I suppose that's the general idea. Everything else is too big to think about, so they focus on the petty and stupid. Yee gods....

[scifantasy.livejournal.com]

I'd argue the point, actually.

About the terminology, not about the relevance of the relative news stories. My dad's a golf writer and editor (and blogger (overthegreen.tumblr.com/)), and he's sick and tired of the Tiger story.

But about terminology...the agreement is a contract, originally entered into by the two parties before the wedding, that outlines some details of the wedding (such as, in the event of divorce, alimony and division of assets).

Because it was entered into before the wedding, it's a prenup.

Now, Elin Woods is renegotiating that contract. It'll still cover the same details as before, with some changes. So it's arguably not a whole new contract, just a new version of the old one.

Why not just continue to call it a prenup? It'll function as one if the marriage goes south.

[ladystarblade.livejournal.com]

I couldn't give less of a flip about the whole TW situation...it does amuse me, however, to see the media throwing a whiny fit because he won't talk about it publicly. Heh. That's why it's all over the place...because the media's 'punishing' him for not rolling over and showing his...uh...

That, and it's spawned a very funny, if rather un-PC joke that had me spit-taking today.

Oh, and if you want to talk travesties...what about those Grammy nominations? Jimany Cricket, now *there's* a waste of air...

[morpheus0013.livejournal.com]

"Please Prepay in Advance" drives me bonkers. THE "PREPAY" INDICATES "ADVANCE," YOU REDUNDANT SONSOFBITCHES>

That is all.

[thistlethorn.livejournal.com]

Some celebrity was unfaithful. Whoo, what a surprise. Please!

Meanwhile, as you astutely point out, the country is extending a war we can't win, completely fucking up the chance to get REAL health care for all Americans (instead heading toward Big Bonus For Insurance: Mandatory Coverage), and way too many people are out of work. A lot of the hope I felt at Obama's election + a Democratic Congress is just gone.

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Boff sidz r bad, vot Ruhpublikin!

[thistlethorn.livejournal.com]

I think that's why they use the phrase "the lesser of two evils."

So, NO <shudder> to Republicans.

I'm mostly in agreement, but...

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

In order to rename the document, they'd have to pay the lawyers to write and review a whole extra paragraph.

I like having the English language sound right, but if I had a prenup, and I wanted to renegotiate the terms (and my spouse was agreeable to same, for some reason), I wouldn't want to pay the lawyers to negotiate a new title for the document. After all, the name of the document doesn't affect my financial status (or the status of my kids) after the changes go into effect, and lawyers can't help with much but money and child custody.

Hmm...changing the title of the document might also have legal consequences, which would make it a bad idea regardless of willingness to pay lawyers.

[fabricdragon.livejournal.com]

because if you tap dance prettily enough in front of the crowd, they wont notice your friend picking their pockets.....

thats why

[pyffe.livejournal.com]

Aptly put.

[maellenkleth]

exactly. now, add to that an increasing fear of crossing the border :(

[bayushisan.livejournal.com]

I'm so sick of all the news lately that I'm not even watching it tonight. Ooohh a sports star was unfaithful, I'm ever so shocked.

Bleh

I know that there are a lot of important things going on at the moment, seems like everything from stem cell debates to health care is all coming down at once.

But I can't deal with it tonight.

So tonight I listen to music and veg out with World of Warcraft.

Responsible? Maybe not but it's what I need to do to stay sane.

[siliconshaman.livejournal.com]

I note in passing that not one media outlet [that I can find] is mentioning that H1N1 has developed Tamaflu resistance, and that the resistant strain is apparently;
a] tranmissable from person to person
b] a good deal more virulent.
c] possibly has a higher mortality rate too.

I only know about it because my Dad [who is rather senior in the medical profession] who pulled strings to get his flu shots in advance, called and was bitching about it.

[valsadie.livejournal.com]

That I didn't know (which is your point), and I still thought the news headlines trumpeting that H1N1 is now in "only" 32 states, strongly suggesting that its threat is lessening, were highly irresponsible.

Not One Media Outlet?

[hvideo.livejournal.com]

There was a flurry of stories about 2 weeks back in our local paper. with one follow-up a week later. The stories were from AP (Associated Press), which ought to be an outlet that you can find. (There were also some stories from early Sept.) So unless the problem was your spelling error above, I don't see why you couldn't find anything. A general Google Search on "Tamiflu Resistant Swine Flu" came up with "around 7,900,000" hits.

Here are the results from our local paper:

YOUR SEARCH: Tamiflu Resistant
11 matches - Sort by: Relevance | Date Search Tips

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Roche: few cases of Tamiflu-resistant swine flu (71%)
09/07/2009 - BASEL, Switzerland—Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG said Monday that it has had reports of 13 cases of pandemic swine flu becoming resistant to Tamiflu, which it calls a very low percentage. similar results

By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS Associated Press Writer



Tamiflu-resistant swine flu cluster reported in NC (69%)
11/20/2009 - ATLANTA—Four North Carolina patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, health officials said Friday. similar results

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer



Tamiflu-resistant swine flu cluster reported in NC (68%)
11/20/2009 - ATLANTA—Health officials say four people in North Carolina have tested positive for a type of swine flu that's resistant to the drug Tamiflu. similar results

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer



Rare Tamiflu-resistant swine flu cluster reported in U.S. (60%)
11/20/2009 - ATLANTA — Four patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, health officials said Friday. The cases reported at Duke University Medical Center similar results



Tamiflu-resistant swine flu cluster reported in NC (60%)
11/20/2009 - ATLANTA — Four North Carolina patients at a single hospital tested positive for a type of swine flu that is resistant to Tamiflu, health officials said Friday. The cases reported at Duke University similar results

By Mike Stobbe Associated Press



WHO says Tamiflu still works against swine flu (55%)
11/26/2009 - GENEVA—The World Health Organization says isolated cases of drug-resistant swine flu in Britain and the United States have not changed the agency's assessment of the disease. similar results

The Associated Press



Did drug-resistant swine flu spread at NC camp? (55%)
09/10/2009 - ATLANTA—Health officials are reporting what may be the first instance of a Tamiflu-resistant swine flu virus spreading from one person to another. similar results

By MIKE STOBBE AP Medical Writer



Did drug-resistant swine flu spread between teens? (55%)
09/10/2009 - ATLANTA — Health officials are reporting what may be the first instance of a Tamiflu-resistant swine flu virus spreading from one person to another. similar results

By Mike Stobbe Associated Press



Study: New drug fights flu as well as Tamiflu does (47%)
09/13/2009 - SAN FRANCISCO—Researchers delivered a double dose of good news Sunday in the fight against flu: successful tests of what could become the first new flu medicine in a decade, and the strongest similar results

By MARILYNN MARCHIONE AP Medical Writer



AP News in Brief (43%)
11/20/2009 - Three Democratic moderates to decide fate of health bill—for now—in crucial Saturday vote WASHINGTON (AP)—Suitably opaque, Section 2006 takes up only a few dozen lines in a sweeping health care bill similar results

The Associated Press

[valsadie.livejournal.com]

I had managed to accidentally spare myself the TW news for a day, in that Tuesday night I watched President Obama's speech and then the MSNBC coverage about it. And I skipped the local newscast. So when I woke up on Wednesday morning and there were allegations on top of allegations -- to say nothing of Meredith Baxter's coming out -- I was aghast. I'm deeply concerned about deploying thousands of more troops, the possibility of sending people on 6th and 7th (!) tours of duty as these battles rage on, and I never fail to notice that the troops who have died overseas are more often than not younger than I am.

And I honestly can't think of a single person who cares about this TW story -- except the news media, in a bid for ratings. And maybe there will be such a backlash that it forces a turn away from the tabloid sensationalism bent that has ruled news reporting for over a decade now.

Yes, I do dream the big dreams...

[valsadie.livejournal.com]

Oh, and there is such a thing as a post-nuptial agreement. What will those lawyers come up with next...

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

Isn't that what they call a divorce settlement?

[valsadie.livejournal.com]

No, a post-nuptial agreement is more a pre-divorce settlement...

[unclelumpy.livejournal.com]

Look on the bright side, Tom. Now when Beck, Limbaugh, et al accuse the President of capitulating and negotiating with people who want to destroy America and all it stands for...

We can say "You're right!"

[biomekanic.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, I'm deeply amused that his mistress is shocked that there was another woman besides his wife.

[warinbear.livejournal.com]

. . . noooooo, the breaking news is Tiger fuckin' Woods. (The FuMP will have something to say about that tomorrow, by the way.)

Thoughts?

First thought for me was "YAY! Let's hear it for the FuMP!"

Gimme a break. I just got off a 12-hour shift and I'm sleep-depped. <g>

Language

[janedit.livejournal.com]

My favorites are: Free-Range Lettuce and Tattoos While You Wait.

[tsu-doshaman.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I have that bumper sticker on my car.

As for the rest, I agree wholeheartedly.

[jenrose]

The whole thing is sleazy. And I don't care. But the whole prenup thing?

"Hi, pay me to not divorce you, I'll stay married to you for the next 2 years and pretend to be your happy wife."

Which is just...

There are no words, really.

[roman-mclaze.livejournal.com]

Depending on the state, prenups can do a lot of useful things.

They can set out rules for child-rearing, protection of property in the case of divorce, and list penalties for infidelity or other transgressions. Oddly enough, California has some of the strongest prenup support in the US, but doesn't allow most punitive conditions in prenups.

(Also, love the icon).

[jenrose]

Yes, of course, my husband and I have one. But she's talking about demanding money NOW for her to stay married to him for two more years. That's a whole different critter.

[roman-mclaze.livejournal.com]

My mistake...should have read the article more closely.

[lariss.livejournal.com]

George Carlin tried REALLY hard to combat redundant repetition of unneeded uneccesary words.

And he died fighting.

[purpleranger.livejournal.com]

It could be worse -- we could still be hearing about Michael Jackson and/or Anna Nicole Smith.

And Tiger Woods was . . . no, that would be way too easy.