‘Keith Urban Fighting Nicole Kidman?’ Post grammar gaffe roasted with memes
A publication’s story involving Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman has gained traction for all the wrong reasons. An unfortunate syntax error ended up reversing the meaning of what the article was trying to convey. The article, which recounts how Nicole “saved” Keith’s life, featured an excerpt “Singer shares how he battled addiction, music and his wife Nicole Kidman”. Although the intent of the sentence is pretty clear, the absence of the Oxford comma is a bit of a grammatical disaster, according to Twitter users. With this framing, the line ends up expressing that Keith actually fought Nicole and the music, as well as his addiction.
To anyone who replies that word order is the real villain here, I agree. but also remember that no one has ever had a viral tweet containing the word “syntax”
— lizzie no (@handsomelizzie) April 17, 2022
Urban Keith whenever he sees drug addiction, music or his wife pic.twitter.com/MOb90FQger
– Straw Snorlax (@Snorlaxtm15) April 18, 2022
I swear the oxford comma should never be optional pic.twitter.com/tvrjKPM5Ff
— Charlie (@Chaxinitus) April 18, 2022
Reminds me of that old magazine cover. #RachelRayCookedHerFamilyAndDog pic.twitter.com/9XJdpLuvfn
—Scott (@NFSSmith) April 18, 2022
Keith Urban when he sees music addiction and his wife Nicole Kidman. pic.twitter.com/AacgwexbDe
— Brad ×͜× (@copyofabrad) April 18, 2022
Nicole is about to stop. pic.twitter.com/0VoPHvItcg
— BV (@thisisnotbrian) April 18, 2022
Keith Urban whenever he sees music and his wife pic.twitter.com/FlMKECfqZN
— Phoenix💙 (@_Phoenixville_) April 18, 2022
Some have argued that grammar and sentence structuring, not just syntax, are to blame. One Twitter user wrote, “The way I am instructed to know that this punctuation is correct in AP Style, which is the widely accepted style in journalism… the real enemy is the order of the list not the punctuation. Many others accepted.
The way I am instructed to know that this punctuation is correct in AP Style which is the widely accepted style in journalism… the real enemy is the order of the list not the punctuation https://t.co/jszUWJLPTn
— Anabel (@AnabelNosek) April 18, 2022
The use of the Oxford comma is highly controversial with one school believing its existence is unnecessary, but the publication’s syntax gaffe makes many of them think again.
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