Since the paper may fix it, here’s the original. The headline is strange too:
Freight train problem delay Metra trains in
By Christopher Placek
A mechanical problem with a freight train stalled rush-hour traffic for more than two hours Friday in .
The southbound Canadian National Railway train came to a stop about 4:20 p.m. near Route 14/Northwest Highway and , delaying Metra trains on an intersecting train line and cars on nearby roads, according to police.
An apparent cuff link problem was repaired, and traffic gridlock had cleared up by 7 p.m., police
I had to say it out loud a few times before I figured out what it probably was - “coup-ling”. [sigh]
Must be a real heavy Canadian accent around there, eh ? [:-,] Is that a ‘mondegreen’ or a ‘malapropism’ ?
And these are the people and institutions that we depend upon to report politics, wars, and economics with some semblance of accuracy ? They don’t have editors there any more ? I mean, that’s goofy on its face - letting that get printed would have made more sense if they said the problem was with the “veeblefester” - at least that isn’t obviously nonsensical. And nobody thought to ask “Huh ?” and check into that further ?
I also took a look at the comments. Most had nothing to do with this event, but got into a debate about rail systems - both passenger and freight - in other countries as compared to ours. But some comments under the nom de screen of “rabbiteer” seemed familiar . . . . [swg]
I saw a pair of cuff links at a mall jewelry store the other day. They were quite like a pair I had, uh… oh dear… 50 years ago! A small gold square with a raised silver square inside it with a tiny diamond in the center… really nice!
I asked the sales girl about them and she pulled them from the glass case to let me see them better. Just for fun (and to distract her while I turned the price tag over to see what they cost) I scratched my head and said, “What are they?”
She smiled sweetly and very enthusiastically said (in a perky, lilting voice that only young, pretty girls have the capability of vocalizing), “They are cuff links.” (with the emphasis on the word “cuff”).
I said, “What’re… ‘cuff links’?”
She looked up at the ceiling while she scrambled her brain trying to find some purpose for them and finally said, “They are like ‘jewelry’ for men.”
So I said, “Um, uh, do men - ‘wear’ - them? How?”
She lost the ‘lilt’ in her voice and said, “I really don’t know.” Then the ‘lilt’ came back as she went on, “But they are really pretty, aren’t they?”
At least while she was looking at the ceiling I got the tiny price tag turned over… “$734.98 (per pair)”
I suppose only to put a punctuation point on complaining about misprints in media, that the complainer, “Rabbiteer” noted in those comments: “To read the totally uniformed comments regarding the US rail network is sickening.”
Gotta hate those “uniformed” comments, all dressed up and no where to go … it certainly explains the “cuff links” in the original article!
I suppose there is a moral to the story and if it is, as I think you are suggesting, that “Rabbiteer” is the forum member who began this thread, the just deserts of offering to the public a critique on how dumb all these people are, and then making a similar typo … that everyone can look like an idiot if given half the chance. I’ve had plenty opportunities myself.
I don’t envy journalists trying to understand things they aren’t trained in – which appears to be just about everything – but then again I offer to them the courtesy of recognizing that they are “trying” and will probably never realize the satisfaction of specialized readers while continuing to mislead the general reader.
My solution? Read the specialists if I want to know what the specialists are thinking. These days, that’s not that hard.
That’s what happens when you use off-the-cuff responses instead of authoritative reports.
Yes, railroading has become very formal: ties are still ties, but spikes have become tie-tacks, and Barrington has a diamond setting in the middle of town–had it not been for those diamonds, the cuff link would not have caused the delays to Metra.
Pssst.…to all of the snooty people in Barrington…there’s a fancier setting just down the tracks in Deval, with 11 nicely-cut diamonds!
Of course it was a cuff link problem…shirt sleeve railroading where a brass collar arrived on the scene failing to roll up his sleeves thus mucking up the funky works.
Of course once again, the forest is lost for the trees. Is not the delaying commuter trains for two hours on the senior rail line (ex-CNW) which the CN crosses of some importance? Or is it only freight that matters?
Since it seems to always be open season on journalists and reporters, usually over some minor misunderstanding, I would that assume that most members of these forums expect all journalists to be complete experts about everything with less bias than Fox News.
A lot of speculation here! Does anyone know for sure that it wasn’t a broken cuff link problem? Maybe CN is trying to improve their image by have the train crews wear formal attire.
Do you have any idea how long it would take to find a store selling FRA approved safety cuff links?