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Reader reaction to Reuters news
He’s still alive…
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Armless pianist plays with toes to win “China’s Got Talent”
Liu Wei, 23, who lost both his arms aged 10 when he was electrocuted during a game of hide-and-seek, defeated 7-year-old standup comedian Zhang Fengxi at the final on Sunday at the Shanghai Stadium, the Shanghai Daily reported.
Your reporter needs to look up the definition of electrocution.
J.B.
Which you are saying because in the U.S., every definition I can find says electrocution is fatal.
Fortunately for Liu Wei, however, in British English to electrocute can mean to injure as well as to kill.
So all this tells us for certain is that a news agency with a global audience should avoid using a word that means two different things to different groups of readers: GBU Editor
Aaron Dickson, President of the Board of Directors of the Texas Prison Museum, in a 2002 file photo with “Old Sparky,” the Texas electric chair in which 361 killers were executed. REUTERS
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Maybe it’s because I would in the business of electrical contracting, but I understand the use of the word “electrocution” can be used for a severe shock. It may or may not be fatal.
I guess different people are exposed to the word in different ways.