Some poorly chosen words

Last Friday, Golf Channel announcer Kelly Tilghman joked that Tiger Woods’ opponents should gang up on him and “[l]ynch him in a back alley.”

Let that sink in for a minute.

Tilghman’s apology statement said she “used some poorly chosen words…I have known Tiger for 12 years and I have apologized directly to him. I also apologize to our viewers who may have been offended by my comments.”

Woods has apparently accepted the apology, but this news item really puts what I do here into perspective.

“Poorly chosen words” bore. They can turn potential customers away. A poorly chosen word is one that needs revision or editing or just that final tweak to make an article sing. Tilghman’s comment, I think, goes beyond “poorly chosen” and into the realm of “really stupid.”

Here, “poorly chosen words” are themselves very poorly chosen.