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Thread ID: 86105 2008-01-03 20:31:00 News reporting Sweep (90) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
627090 2008-01-03 20:31:00 home.nzcity.co.nz

May I ask, what is freak about this accident??

I take it that the ride on floor polisher just decided to fall off the ledge by itself.

Probably running the wrong operating system. In this case I would suspect the brain of the person operating the vehicle. Possibly the person had a heart attack and lost control before the vehicle went over the ledge. As it was at 2:00 am maybe he/she went to sleep.

At the moment we do not yet know the facts or actual cause of the event.

So why report it at this time other than to fill?
Sweep (90)
627091 2008-01-04 02:25:00 "Freak"="unusual", Sweep. Not many people are killed by driving floor polishers off a loading dock. And if it happens in the silly season, it's a freak accident. Graham L (2)
627092 2008-01-04 03:06:00 "Freak"="unusual", Sweep. Not many people are killed by driving floor polishers off a loading dock. And if it happens in the silly season, it's a freak accident.

I agree that not many people people are killed by floor polishers.
If you actually read the story you may notice the person is in hospital and not dead.

Are we all supposed to be silly at this time of the year? I wonder why I did not finish up in a hospital at this time of the year and every year.

Do we just get silly during a full moon?

What is a "horror" "shock" accident?

en.wikipedia.org

Freak to me may mean unusual but I fail to understand why the word is used in headlines other than to sell newspapers or tune in to a radio station.

My main issue is the "news" is "reported" before the facts are known.
So your explanation is what?
Sweep (90)
627093 2008-01-04 05:16:00 This sort of reporting is similar to the weather these days.

"Rogue snowfalls" and "Weather bombs" are regular occurrences.

Gotta dramatise boredom somehow!!

Ken
kenj (9738)
627094 2008-01-04 07:04:00 So why report it at this time other than to fill?

Well, its not a car accident. Its not a bike accident. Its not a train accident.

Its a floor polisher. What do you think the chances are of dying by floor polisher?
pctek (84)
627095 2008-01-04 09:09:00 Well, its not a car accident. Its not a bike accident. Its not a train accident.

Its a floor polisher. What do you think the chances are of dying by floor polisher?Depends on how you want to be "finished"... :lol: :D
johcar (6283)
627096 2008-01-07 12:00:00 my definition of "freak accident" does not include those brought about by stupidity, laziness, commonly preventable faults (like wheel nuts on a car not properly tightented), or in this case, falling asleep at the wheel

imo they have to be both unusual and unexpected.... like lightning strikes, or one of the buffers coming loose at a high rate of spin, flying out from under the polisher, running along a wall and coming back to hit the operator on the head, then causing him to crash off a ledge and be trapped under the machine
motorbyclist (188)
627097 2008-01-07 18:01:00 It's no worse than the way the media all reported the story of a bug on that cruise ship and insisted on talking about how the bottle didn't break on launch and how this was supposed to be bad luck. They then listed the 3 or so "bad" things that had happened to the ship, all the while implying it was cursed because of bad luck.

Needless to say they didn't run a list of ships that has successfully had a bottle broken on their bow at launch and had then gone on to have a run of bad luck ...
Biggles (121)
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