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You get a DFA and a beating?
2008-05-05 13:09
by Bob Timmermann

Jacque Jones of the Tigers was designated for assignment today.

The headline on Yahoo! Sports about it reads (since fixed):

Tigers OF Jones leaves with contusion

Comments
2008-05-05 13:15:53
1.   underdog
This brings up another pet peeve of mine, which I see all the time nowadays -- so frequently, I'm starting to doubt my own sanity. Maybe I'm wrong, but isn't it actually improper to say someone needs to "get untracked"? Shouldn't it really be "on track"? Untracked implies the same as derailed, if you take it literally, i.e., off the tracks. I know people are meaning it as "get unstuck" but it just seems like it's wrong.

Not as wrong as a phantom contusion, though.

2008-05-05 13:28:49
2.   DXMachina
If you consider the ruts in a road as a track, getting untracked might be a good thing.
2008-05-05 13:29:33
3.   old dodger fan
In his last game, about a week ago, he was 2 for 5, scored 3 runs and hit his first HR of the season. He probably thought he had just gotten back "on track". Little did he know he was done in Detroit.
2008-05-05 13:31:03
4.   underdog
2 - Maybe, "in a rut" makes more sense as a way to say that, though. But I'm sure that's what it means. I suppose I should just get off this track and give it up.
2008-05-05 13:36:51
5.   Bob Timmermann
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/untracked.html
2008-05-05 13:53:28
6.   StolenMonkey86
Yep, not everyone can hit .160 and still keep a major league starting job.
2008-05-05 13:55:52
7.   Cliff Corcoran
From Merriam-Webster's on-line:

Untrack

Function:
transitive verb
Date:
1939

: to cause to escape from a slump

Seems it's pretty much a sports-only usage.

More here:

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002148.html

That said, as an editor, I've always replaced that use of "untracked" with "on track," even in a sports context.

2008-05-05 14:01:12
8.   underdog
7 Ditto here. I guess editors get paid to be anal (but at least we're not paid very well for it). Anyway, glad I'm not the only one so bothered.
2008-05-05 14:12:57
9.   D4P
I hate "untracked".
2008-05-05 14:41:31
10.   MC Safety
9 LOL
2008-05-05 14:46:17
11.   bobsbrother
Is having something go downhill a good thing or a bad thing? "And from there, it was downhill all the way," seems good, there was nothing stopping you. But then, if you said, something "went downhill fast," that sounds bad.
Next up: anxious vs. eager.
2008-05-05 15:08:27
12.   JoeyP
He was useless PVL that should have never been signed by the Tigers. Another Sean Casey-esque (what the tigers thinking???) type of signing.

Free Marcus Thames.

2008-05-05 15:45:41
13.   Brent is a Dodger Fan
I will offer the following, similar misuses:

- Irregardless: it is either irrespective, or regardless. Those saying "irregardless" are naively (or ironically) combining these two other words.

- Buy Off: you can obtain a person's buy-in, or you can have that person sign-of. Again, those saying "buy off" are naively (or lazily) combining these two phrases.

Likewise, "untracked" seems to be a combination, a made up expression, irrespective of what Merriam-Webster's on-line says.

2008-05-05 17:36:54
14.   fordprefect
13
I twitch the same way whenever irregardless or irrespective is used. Just can't help it.

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