10,000 people
More than 10,000 23,000(+?) 44,000 63,000 77,000 150,000 people in southeast Asia were killed this morning by one of the most massive tidal waves tsunamis in history.
Ten thousand Twenty-three thousand Forty-four thousand Sixty-three thousand Seventy-seven thousand One hundred fifty thousand people.
Pray hard.
CNN story. New York Times story.
Tidal waves are the result of the tides. Seeing as how this was the result of an earthquake the appropriate term is tsunami.
My high school oceanography teacher was a Nazi on that front. Obviously, it rubbed off.
Kyle,
You are absolutely right, and I already knew that. Thank you. I wrote the entry while sleepy. It was a stupid error. I am embarrassed.
The following is from Merriam Webster. It is also being used on almost every news site. Tides can be influenced by many things — including earthquakes. Your high school oceanography teacher is an idiot.
Main Entry: tidal wave
Function: noun
Date: 1830
1 a : an unusually high sea wave that sometimes follows an earthquake b : an unusual rise of water alongshore due to strong winds
Donnie,
Do you really think Kyle’s oceanography teacher is an “idiot”? Do we always have to write like pundits just to be right?
Every teacher of mine who has discussed tidal waves/tsunamis has said what Kyle’s teacher did. M-W likely recognizes that definition of the word due to usage, but to be precise and scientifically sound, the word is tsunami.
Andrew — I was joking around. My point was the we SHOULD NOT write like pundits. Most people say tidal wave. Only geeks like us worry about shit like this. My point was that tidal wave is not wrong. Tsunami is the scientific term — but has eveyone taken an oceanography class? Who do we write for? Each other or everyone.
If I point up at a stars and say “that is a cool star.” What if it is Venus or Mars? Was I wrong? Should I say that I like to look up at the stars? Or I like to look up at the planets, supernovas, white dwarfs, etc..
I was not bagging on Kyle or you. I just found it odd that someone corrected you for such a stupid thing. When it wasn’t wrong. Only a fellow journalist would care. We are becoming too obsessed with AP style — which isn’t always right.
For example — The disease is Down’s Syndrome. AP syle is Down Syndrome. The dictionary lists it as Down’s– with Down under “other terms.” Scientifically it is Down’s Syndrome.
My point is that I was saying what you ending up saying in your response — We do not have to write like pundits to be RIGHT. You were right to begin with. It was a light-hearted joke — poking fun at those of us who care.
The latest reports say there are over 13,000 dead and thousands more missing. It affected all of South Asia and the northwest coast of Africa — and all of the remote island chains in its path.
Many of those islands have little or no communication. That and the fact that there are thousands of tourists from other countries mean that the death toll will be even higher. Have you seen the photos coming out of there? From while it was hitting? I could not imagine. Didn’t the Alaska quake in the 1960s cause something similar along the Northwest coast? Not as bad. But that “tsunami” was what led to the alert system being created.
Peace Out!
Northeast coast of Africa. Sorry!
There were other typos in there. Sorry.
Tidal Wave – Tsunami – it’s all Greek to me.
The real question is: is there now going to be a fried rice shortage just like there was a tomato shortage after the Florida hurricanes?
I have to agree, AP style is often incorrect. The Down’s Syndrome example couldn’t be any more perfect. I had a medical dictionary and the stylebook side-by-side and of course they didn’t agree. In the end we followed the stylebook, simply because the Associated Press is never wrong. The medical dictionary should have prevailed, at least that’s my opinion.
Donnie is right about the Alaska event in the 60s. It did indeed lead to the creation of the West Coast/Alaska Tsunami Warning Center in Palmer, AK. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center was created after a similar event in the 40s in Hawaii.
And Tom, there wasn’t any real tomato shortage. The growers were taking advantage of the hurricanes to jack up prices. Most of the tomatos were thrown in the Atlantic. They did this knowing grandma wasn’t going to be able to afford to have that one cherry tomato in her salad.