One little syllable can make a world of difference. NY-1 anchor Pat Kiernan made that laughably clear recently when he accidentally told the world that Trump's staff was using illicit drugs.
After press secretary Kayleigh McEnany announced she had also contracted the viral pathogen behind the global pandemic (along with Trump, Melania, Stephen Miller, etc...) it was Kiernan's job to report it to his viewers. Unfortunately, his sentence sort of got away from him at the end there and what he actually said was something a little different than intended.
Rather than report that McEnany had CO-VID he said:
"Another member of Donald Trump's inner circle testing positive for cocaine."
Season 7 Oops GIF by WorkaholicsGiphy
CO-VID, co-caine, easy mistake to make, right?
Kiernan—ever the professional—corrected himself immediately and continued on to accurately report Kayleigh McEnany was sick along with Donald Trump and several members of his close staff, political allies and family. He even corrected himself on Twitter.
Because of course Twitter noticed.
That one little syllable right at the end of his sentence entirely changed the meaning. It appears to have been an innocent slip of the tongue—the man's career is quite extensive and he has reported on a lot of positive drug tests, after all.
While the gaffe may have been totally meaningless, it provided nearly endless entertainment for folks on social media.
@Reality46886292 / Twitter
Our journalistic condolences to you, Pat Kiernan. These sorts of flubs happen to us all.
Thankfully, we have editors and spell checks and all sorts of other tools to keep us from accidentally telling the world that the White House has a rampant cocaine issue. You're out there in the wilds of live broadcasting.
You have our sympathies and our collective LOL's.
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@sadcommunistdog; @froglok/Bluesky