Chuck Berry won’t sing for ‘Johnny’ in US election

 ”In the ’50s there were certain places we couldn’t ride on the bus,” Berry said. “And now there is a possibility of a black man being in White House. Free at last, free at last, thank God Almighty, free at last,” he said, quoting the words of a Negro spiritual song famously invoked by assassinated civil rights campaigner Martin Luther King Jr.

I can only hope that the reporter and editors on this story are Brazilian and therefore unfamiliar with how archaic and offensive the term “Negro” is considered here in the U.S.  Seriously.

Kate

We did not use the term “Negro,” we used the term “Negro spiritual,” which is still in wide use. You can go to negrospiritual.com, you may order numerous recordings of Negro spirituals from amazon.com, and so on. And, in a forum which attracts vocal and varied opinions about our news content daily, I believe yours was the only e-mail we received about this subject: GBU Editor

Your Brazilian site has a wrong automatic translator. This month is MAY, and your Brazilian website translates”may” as a word that in Brazil means: “MAY I go to the bathroom?” In English, this words are the same, but not in Portuguese. 

Renato

Your Brazilian website is incorrectly translating dates from English.  The date “Monday, May 12 2008″ is currently being translated as “segunda-feira, 12 de pode de 2008″, which mistranslates “May” (”maio” in Portuguese) to “pode”, which means “may” in the sense of “can, is able to”.

Fabio

Understandably, lots of people noticed that one. We’ve fixed the problem: GBU Editor

Young Pennsylvania voters take a shine to Obama

I think a news headline about taking a “shine” to a man of color is considered in poor taste, at best.

Mark S.

Please reseach Black folklore and historical use of the term “Shine” that your use in the same sentence with Sen Obama. I think you will find it, if not inappropriate, at least a pretty odd choice of words.

Tony R. Several readers pointed this out to us. There are vast numbers of people who do not know the slang meaning of the word: “Disparaging and offensive. A black person.”

When our editors became aware of it, the headline was changed: GBU Editor

REUTERS photo by Tim Shaffer

Bush climate plan said too little, too late  

On Wednesday, President George W. Bush unveiled a plan to halt the growth of U.S. emissions by 2025, toughening a previous goal of braking the growth of emissions by 2012. The United States and China are the top emitters. 

I don’t understand how allowing oneself an extra 13 years to achieve what appears to be the same goal is “toughening” it. Is this a typo, or am I misreading it?

Curt H.

Several readers were confused by this. The intended distinction was between HALTING and BRAKING - that is, between stopping and merely slowing - but it doesn’t seem to have been clear enough: GBU Editor

Engagement ring ends up gone with the wind

Hajji, of Hackney, east London, had concealed a 6,000-pound engagement ring inside a helium balloon. The idea was that she would pop the balloon as he popped the question.

A 6,000-pound ring?

Dale M. 

Accountant loses 300,000 pound grape lawsuit

Those of us who are not on your monetary system read this headline to be refer to litigation rergarding the largest grape ever grown. £ would have been clearer and would have saved space.

Steve S.
 
These versions of the two stories above  appeared on our UK site, where most readers would tend to understand that pound referred to price, and not weight. On reuters.com, the figures were converted to dollars. Having said that, to American eyes those references do look kind of funny: GBU Editor