I always find it interesting that people who use words for a living (journalists) often get it wrong, as in "
Meteor-like Object Explodes Over Russia".
Meteor like? Or did they actually mean 'meteoroid like' object. Yes, I admit, it is confusing. The word meteor is often incorrectly interchanged with the word meteoroid. Just to add to the confusion, we have the word
bolide, a large bright meteor, particularly one that explodes, like the Chelyabinsk event, which is also interchanged with the word meteor.
Meteor, according to my science dictionary says it is a streak of light cause by a particle of matter, whereas a meteoroid is a particle of dust from a comet, or a rock from an asteroid. So, meteor can still apply to a piece of space junk re-entering the atmosphere.
If you look at the etymology of the word Meteor, it comes from the Greek
meteoron, or 'thing high up'. So, Meteor Explodes Over Russia, would have been correct.
Yes, I realise I am being pedantic, however, you would think the media, the very people who rely on words for a living, would attempt to get it right. I guess that is asking too much.
No doubt, there will be those that think I am being a smart ass, but that isn't actually the case, as I am not that smart, it is just the educator in me. I have a love of the English language and hate to see it being corrupted, although, I am not a purist either and understand that language evolves. But, at the rate the media get it wrong, it isn't as much as evolving, more like devolving.
Oh well, ignorance
is bliss, I suppose?
Cheers Pete
