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Los Angeles Times
13-03-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
A Word Please: Do you say ‘car-a-mel' or ‘car-mel'? Turns out, they're both right
People think that, because I write about grammar, I must have grown up in one of those we-value-education families, probably in a good school district. Nope. I dropped out without finishing the ninth grade, then stumbled through life for a few years before straightening out to become the first and only person in my family to get a college degree. (Heck, the first and only to get a newspaper subscription.) So I've had to get my learnin' where I could find it: sitcoms, serial mansplainers, candy bar commercials. I can be forgiven, then, for being deeply influenced by the language teachings of Shaquille O'Neal. Perhaps you remember this 2003 commercial: Shaq corrects actor Percy Daggs III when Daggs pronounces the ingredient in a new variety of Nestle Crunch as 'carmel.' 'It's caramel,' Shaq says, hitting all three syllables. 'Car-a-mel. Can't you spell?' I'd been pronouncing it 'carmel' all my life. It's how the people around me pronounced it. It's all I knew. But then, I grew up in the region of Florida that spawned the first Hooters restaurant, so I didn't have much faith in the judgment or taste of the people around me. Instead, I put my faith in Shaq. I started pronouncing it 'car-a-mel.' After all, Shaq made a good point with 'Can't you spell?' Three vowels, separated by consonants, sure look like three syllables to me. As a self-styled 'language expert,' I knew I should do a little research. And I did — 22 years later. Here's what I just learned: the pronunciation 'carmel,' with two syllables, is every bit as acceptable as the three-syllable pronunciation. In fact, the two-syllable option comes first in Merriam-Webster's dictionary, which may indicate it's more standard. Score one for the town that gave the world chicken wings with a side of hair mousse. Reasonable minds may disagree. Garner's Modern American Usage, for example, is on Team Shaq, deeming the three-syllable pronunciation superior. Jewelry is another word that's spelled like it has three syllables but is often pronounced with just two: jool-ry. In my world, the two-syllable pronunciation is standard. I almost never hear 'joo-ul-ry.' Merriam's dictionary seems to prefer three syllables, though it allows two, as well. The difference is subtle, almost undetectable. 'Joo-ul-ry' so buries the 'ul' that it sounds nearly identical to 'jool-ry,' even on the audio clip on Merriam's website. The pronunciation you definitely want to avoid is 'joo-luh-ry,' with 'luh' in the middle instead of 'ul.' Merriam's dictionary calls this pronunciation nonstandard, which is dictionary-speak for 'ill-advised.' 'Realtor' is another oddly pronounced word. Instead of dropping a syllable, people add one: 'reel-uh-tur.' It's a little bizarre, but if you pay attention to how your mouth moves to say 'Realtor,' it's easy to hear why the first and second syllables could benefit from a little more separation. Regardless, the three-syllable pronunciation of 'Realtor' is widely considered to be wrong. The experts in my language library say it's always just 'reel-tur.' Perhaps the most hotly debated word of this type is 'homogeneous.' Some argue, passionately, that it should be pronounced 'ho-mo-GEE-nee-us,' while others insist it's 'ho-MOJ-en-us.' Actually, these are two different words. 'The more common term is homogeneous,' writes Garner's, 'which means 'of uniform characteristics.'' It's pronounced as five syllables, with the stress on 'gee.' The word 'homogenous,' has just one 'e' and is pronounced with the stress on the second syllable: 'ho-MOJ-en-us.' It's a term from biology that means tissues or organs are genetically related. Many people pronounce 'homogeneous' as if they're using the other word, 'homogenous.' But if you want to say that things are similar or of uniform composition, that's not a good idea. 'Writers are best advised to use 'homogeneous,' and to pronounce all five syllables,' Garner's writes. — June Casagrande is the author of 'The Joy of Syntax: A Simple Guide to All the Grammar You Know You Should Know.' She can be reached at JuneTCN@
Reuters
19-02-2025
- Sport
- Reuters
Report: NBA ASG ratings plumment to 2nd lowest in history
February 19 - Trying out a new format for the NBA All-Star Game apparently didn't sit well with the masses, with this year's edition of the event bringing in the second-fewest average viewers, Front Office Sports reported Wednesday. Only the 2023 All-Star Game averaged less viewers (4.6 million) than the 4.7 million who tuned into this year's on TNT platforms. There was a 13 percent dip in viewership compared to 2024. Instead of having one singular game, the league ran a four-team tournament that featured three games. The first squad to reach 40 points in each game would be declared the winner, and Team Shaq (coached by Shaquille O'Neal) ended up on top after beating Team Rising Stars and Team Chuck (Charles Barkley as coach). Each of the past three All-Star Games have failed to garner an average audience of six million. No All-Star Game prior to those had come up short of that mark. All-Star festivities on Saturday night -- Skills Challenge, 3-Point Contest, Slam Dunk Contest -- were also a dud. Those events averaged 3.4 million viewers, setting an all-time low.
Boston Globe
18-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Court Sense: An unwatchable All-Star
I don't know about you all, but I really was willing to give the NBA's new All-Star format a chance. Unfortunately, the execution was an absolute disaster . Here are, in no particular order, my four biggest complaints from Sunday's All-Star Game: 1. My God, the number of ad breaks. Advertisement 2. What was with all the random asides? Why did we spend several minutes on watching MrBeast — who, if you are not either a.) the parent or grandparent of a child under the age of 12, or b.) yourself a child under the age of 12, you may not know is the most subscribed-to creator on YouTube — host a $100,000 contest between games? Why does YouTube's most famous man have no idea how to host said contest, Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 3. Speaking of asides, whose idea was it to do a in the middle of the championship game? The championship was off to an 11-1 start for Team Shaq over Team Candace before we cut to commercial, wasted 10 minutes on whatever that nonsense was, went back to commercial, and Advertisement Please keep Kevin Hart away from my All-Star Game (and away from my TV, and away from me, in general, please). Jed Jacobsohn/Associated Press 4. I said no particular order, but this is absolutely my biggest: for reasons unknown, the NBA allowed Kevin Hart, a man whose comedic relevance expired when his general schtick got old sometime around 2014, to hijack the All-Star Game to an extremely uncomfortable degree. Hart was on the microphone, with his words broadcast through the in-arena PA system — that is, the players could hear him — just openly criticizing the All-Stars. I'm sure it was supposed to be funny, but seeing as this was a basketball game and not a roast on Comedy Central, it fell spectacularly flat. The lowlight of the entire evening came It was, even relative to recent years of the NBA All-Star Game, unwatchable. The players share some blame in the game's decline over the years, but after being asked over and over to take it seriously, their participation turned into a joke, Anyway, my personal highlight of the night: With his team a point away from sealing the championship, Stephen Curry slowly walked the ball up the court, taking in the applause of a standing ovation at his home arena in San Francisco, the All-Star Game MVP in the bag and ready to close the game out, and ... Incredible hater behavior from the refs. Joe Mazzulla would be proud. Advertisement Okay, enough complaining. Let's get into it. ICYMI 🗞️ The Intuit Dome has been a hit with players and fans. Harry How/Getty The Clippers' Intuit Dome is a spectacular creation and fan experience. Could that happen in Boston for the Celtics? By Gary Washburn When opposing players are asked about the Intuit Dome, often they take deep breaths and offer a laundry list of what they admire about the NBA's sparkling new venue. The visiting locker room is considered the league's most spacious and accommodating, and that's intentional. One of Clippers owner Steve Ballmer's visions for this jewel was to make a lasting impression on players in the league, perhaps thinking if the visiting locker room is this lavish, then what about that home locker room? It took 10 years for the Intuit Dome to transform from an idea to a reality and it's the league's model facility. The 915,000-square-foot arena that cost $2 billion could have an impact on the long-term residence of the Celtics. Continue reading Other top stories we're watching ... Oh, in case you were wondering, Team Shaq's 'OGs' featuring Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown took home the All-Star crown on Sunday. As the Celtics return from the break this week, Tatum and Brown's All-Star (and former Celtics) teammate Kyrie Irving seems to finding his way in Dallas. Trivia Tuesday 🧠 Each week, we'll be asking a piece of Celtics trivia to test your knowledge on the 18-time champions. Congratulations to Steve Markman of Needham, the first person to correctly answer last week's question. As a refresher, we asked you to name which current NBA franchise has a winning all-time head-to-head record against the Celtics. The answer is the San Antonio Spurs , who have an all-time record of 58-46 against Boston since joining the NBA in the 1976 merger. Every other current NBA franchise has a losing record against the Celtics, with the Timberwolves posting the worst mark at 22-47. Boston's best mark against any team is a 2-0 record against the Anderson Packers, an extremely short-lived outfit that played just one NBA season in 1949-50. On the opposite end are the Chicago Stags, who went 20-3 against the Celtics before acquiring the rights to Bob Cousy and promptly folding, allowing Cousy to head to Boston in the resulting dispersal draft. Advertisement I think Red Auerbach got over those losses to the Stags, considering what they gifted him in the end. Gregg Popovich (left) and the Spurs have had plenty of success against the Celtics. Darren Abate/Associated Press Anyway, here's this week's question. The Celtics' 23 retired jersey numbers can make it tricky for new players to snag a number they want. What is the lowest Celtics jersey number that is not either retired by the franchise or currently in use by a player? (Answer will be as of this writing on Tuesday, Feb. 18, in case the Celtics, I don't know, trade Jayson Tatum and suddenly free up No. 0 or something.) Know the answer? Send us an email at This week in basketball Okay, since I was very negative about the NBA All-Star Game earlier, I will be very positive about one aspect of it, even though nothing about it reflected well on the NBA. Spurs star and Now, those of you familiar with Paul's work over the years know that he's a man to leverage the rulebook to his advantage, whether through Advertisement So should we really have been surprised when a team involving Paul tried to bend the rules to win a meaningless Skills Challenge? In case you don't know (which, why would you?), the NBA's Skills Challenge is the first event on All-Star Saturday night where teams of two run through a timed obstacle course involving dribbling, passing, and shooting. But what the Spurs duo worked out was that the shooting portion didn't actually require you to make the shots. So when Wembanyama and Paul approached the racks with three balls apiece, they just tossed the balls in the general direction of the basket instead of actually trying to shoot, saving several precious seconds. Chris Paul and Victor Wembanyama were disqualified from the Skills Challenge at NBA All-Star Weekend on Saturday. Godofredo A. Vásquez/Associated Press Was it cheating? Was it smart strategy? Was it the sort of rule-bending that Bill Belichick would have been proud of? Anyway, funny as it was, the NBA took a rather dim view of the tactic, and the two were promptly disqualified. Now, in their defense, Wembanyama supposedly asked several folks from the NBA if this particular strategy was allowed, and was told that it was (keep in mind, this account is coming from But, nope, they were out, and frankly were sort of chastised by some random NBA staffer, Leave it to the NBA to take one of the only fun moments of the weekend (far funnier than anything Kevin Hart offered up, it must be said), take themselves far too seriously, and make it a little awkward instead. Also, So, All-Star Weekend wasn't all bad. It was mostly bad, but not all. Up next 🏀 After that horrid All-Star Weekend, the Celtics are mercifully back to basketball on Thursday against the 76ers (7:00 p.m., TNT). This story first appeared in Court Sense, a biweekly Celtics newsletter from Boston Globe Sports. Amin Touri can be reached at
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kevin Durant derides NBA All-Star criticism: 'It's more fun to complain about the NBA than to actually watch it'
Kevin Durant has joined the chat. The 15-time All-Star and active online poster took the time to weigh in on the NBA's greatest controversy: what to do about the All-Star weekend. The NBA has tried for years to breath life back into the best-of competition, but Sunday's edition received a lot of criticism for the format and a broadcast overrun with Kevin Hart bits. Durant, potentially sick of the discourse, took to X on Monday to jokingly (we think) propose an extreme reaction: cancel the event entirely. (Unfortunately, sarcasm does not travel well on the Internet.) "I think it's more fun to complain about the NBA than to actually watch it," Durant wrote. "Crazy, cancel all star weekend and let's just give everybody a break since we're so miserable around this time..." I think it's more fun to complain about the nba than to actually watch it. Crazy, cancel all star weekend and let's just give everybody a break since we're so miserable around this time… — Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) February 17, 2025 Durant participated in Sunday's game as part of Team Shaq's OG All-Stars, which cruised to victory in the finals after nearly falling to Team Candace's Rising Stars in the semifinals. The weekend had its moments: Mac McClung's perfect run to a dunk contest three-peat was so good that it inspired some actual All-Stars to (maybe) join the competition next year. But there's been general consensus about a pretty lame All-Star weekend that left a couple of winners and a lot of losers. As he often does, Durant doubled down on his take, going on a commenting spree in response to X users who disagreed. Winning a chip is the only thing that matters along side trades and free agency. Now mfers care about all star weekend lol ok — Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) February 17, 2025 All star games used to be a layup line back n the day until late in the game then the intensity would ramp up. The 3 point shot and how many we take, by time u ready to ramp up somebody down 40 already. They didn't have to worry bout that as much back n the day. They can shoot… — Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) February 17, 2025 Only thing matters is rings and legacy. — Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) February 17, 2025 At one point, Durant clarified that his criticism was more about the fact that NBA fans love to complain. "My point is, fans complain about EVERYTHING. Like nothing is good enough for the fans right now. Only thing they enjoy is playoffs, trade deadline, free agency and when players beef with each other lol," Durant said. I get it. My point is, fans complain about EVERYTHING. Like nothing is good enough for the fans right now. Only thing they enjoy is playoffs, trade deadline, free agency and when players beef with each other lol — Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) February 17, 2025 In response to one fan who said that the discourse was a form of "constructive criticism," Durant had a cheeky reply: "And I am constructively criticizing your criticism." And I am constructively criticizing your criticisms… — Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) February 17, 2025 Never change, KD.
Al-Ahram Weekly
17-02-2025
- Sport
- Al-Ahram Weekly
NBA: LeBron James says won't play in All-Star game - Omni sports
LeBron James said he has withdrawn from Sunday's NBA All-Star Game in San Francisco, citing a nagging ankle and foot injury. The Los Angeles Lakers star revealed his decision not to play in remarks to reporters ahead of Sunday night's games at the Chase Center. "You will not see anything from me tonight," James, 40, said. "Unfortunately I will not be in uniform tonight. "Still dealing with ankle and foot discomfort, so I will not be playing tonight, unfortunately. You know I hate that. But I'm looking forward to seeing the format." James, making his 21st appearance in the All-Star game, had been due to play for "Team Shaq" selected by Shaquille O'Neal, alongside stars such as Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.) Short link:
