headline writers need to be shot

[acroyear]

when they produce lines like "Nichols Prosecutors May Seek Death Penalty" [emphasis mine, source: AP].

I'm going "like DUH!"????

If they weren't going to seek the death penalty, they wouldn't have brought him to trial in the first place. They would have accepted his request for a guilty plea with life in prison (no parole) if they didn't want to kill him.

sheesh, do these guys not know what they write, or know their recent history?

Comments

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

The prosecution definitely wants the death penalty -- that's not in question. A judge just ruled that the prosecution will be allowed to seek the death penalty, which wasn't clear prior to the ruling. In this case, the word "may" means "have permission to" rather than "might choose to."

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

this is an insidiously stupid language.

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

That's definitely true.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

i note that reuters used "CAN" instead of "MAY".

basically "MAY" as in "Mother May I? Yes, you May." is just passe now. its old southern manners and really has no relevance to modern english anymore.

May is 1) a month, and 2) and adverb meaning "might". the verb meaning is pretty much lost in favor of "can", "could" and "yo, ya mind if i...".