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Forum locked This topic is locked, you cannot edit posts or make further replies.  [ 6 posts ] 
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 Post subject: "said in a statement"
PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:20 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jun 19, 2003 12:01 am
Posts: 108
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
I'm exasperated by the redundancy in the ever-present expression "... Joe Dokes said in a statement."<p>Can anything that's "said" be something other than a "statement"? If the intent is to say the statement was written, why don't reporters say that? Has the word "statement" come to mean "a written declaration" only?<p>A bad week to stop sniffing glue.


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 Post subject: Re: "said in a statement"
PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:30 pm 
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Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:01 am
Posts: 8342
Location: Bethesda, Md.
The attribution should be "said in a written statement," or some such.
I fix that probably 50 times a week. I don't bother to say anything because every time I did, people looked at me like I'm from Sedna.


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 Post subject: Re: "said in a statement"
PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2004 10:55 pm 
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Joined: Fri Nov 15, 2002 1:01 am
Posts: 3557
Location: Cusp of retirement, grave or both
I know that look. I sometimes get it when I suggest AP copy needs editing.


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 Post subject: Re: "said in a statement"
PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2004 12:19 am 
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Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2004 1:01 am
Posts: 37
Location: Batavia, NY
For some reason, we've always insisted on "stated" (as opposed to "said") whenever a statement is written (not said). Which I guess brings us to "stated in a statement."<p>Sadly, in many cases, "... stated in a rewritten press release" is the *most* accurate way of putting things.


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 Post subject: Re: "said in a statement"
PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2004 9:54 am 
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Joined: Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:01 am
Posts: 21
Location: The so-called Hub of the Universe
How about this passive head-scratcher:<p>" . . . said Kennedy and 13 other senators in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson."


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 Post subject: Re: "said in a statement"
PostPosted: Mon May 03, 2004 9:47 am 
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Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 12:01 am
Posts: 836
Location: New Brunswick, Canada
Obviously it was a voice mail.


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