Readers: Boy, we’re really piling on TV. But, well, they make it so easy. And never so much so than during a weather crisis. TV has enough transgressions in weather alone for its own segment.

We on the Horribly Wrong team acknowledge that they want to impart the potential danger of whatever event threatens. But how many times have we seen TV reporters and weather forecasters go overboard for something that turns out to be nothing, resulting in a “cry wolf” situation that later could get someone killed?

• Packing winds

• Time to batten down the hatches (Chances are your home has no hatches, even if you knew how to batten them down.)

• Mother Nature

• It takes only one storm.

• Survivors are counting their blessings, while those still in the storm’s path can only hope and pray.

• Forecasters are taking a wait-and-see attitude about the storm, and government agencies are monitoring the situation.

• “It sounded like a freight train.” (Brutal cliché. If a witness said it, and you have no other quote, we suppose you can use it. Try to find something better.)

• Wreaking havoc (Do you even know what “wreaked” means? Have you ever seen anyone wreak anything other than havoc? And have you ever seen havoc arrive in any manner other than being wreaked? )

• Officials are beginning the grim task of searching for bodies. 

• People are glued to their TVs.

• Rain is coming down in buckets.

• Bundle up. We’ll be getting a winter wallop of wicked weather.

• People are breathing a sigh of relief.

• Path of destruction. Swath of destruction. 

And our favorite…

• “Hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.”

Watch this on video! https://youtu.be/Ovgiues5qbc

Next time: It’s the newspaper’s turn

Readers: "Something Went Horribly Wrong," features samples of bad writing we see nearly every day. You can participate! Be our duly deputized “grammar police:” Your motto: “To protect and correct.” Send in your photos of store signs, street signs, newspaper headlines, tweets, and so on. It doesn’t have to be a grammatical error. It can be just what we call “cowardly writing.” Include your name and home town so we properly can credit you. You're free to add a comment, although we reserve the right to edit or omit. Now get out there! Send to Eliot@eliotkleinberg.com

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