When it comes to social media, it is said nothing surpasses the eagle-eyed netizens. Be it some minute detail or a glaring error, netizens have a way to have fun at any given chance. And something similar happened when they noticed a hilarious gaffe in a publication’s report about Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.
Recently, in an interview with The Times, the noted musician opened up about his battles with alcohol addiction and revealed how his wife, Kidman, saved his life. However, more than the headline or the report itself, it was the blurb that caught everyone’s attention.
“The singer talks about how he fought addiction, music and his wife Nicole Kidman,” the blurb read. Soon, it left people confused if he fought with the Oscar-winning actor.
It all started when a Brooklyn-based singer shared a picture of the report on Twitter, highlighting the importance of grammar and punctuation marks. “I need some of you to start taking punctuation more seriously,” the Twitter user wrote.
i need some of you to start taking punctuation more seriously pic.twitter.com/MiHBt5eIuj
— lizzie no (@handsomelizzie) April 17, 2022
Soon, netizens had a field day and reacted to the gaffe with plenty of memes and jokes online. “Ouch!!! Those punctuation gotta hurt!” quipped one fan online.
Others just used this moment to remind everyone about grammar rules. “The singer Keith Urban talks about his wife Nicole Kidman, music, and his fight with addiction,” one wrote as an alternative. “The punctuation is correct; it’s just grammatically ambiguous,” opined another.
Ouch!!! Those punctuation gotta hurt! 😭🤣🤣 https://t.co/tPWU7ME1SW
— Kate & Ryan = Batwomen #RenewBatwoman (@WilderKane) April 19, 2022
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again for the people in the back over there at the AP Style guide: THE OXFORD COMMA IS NECESSARY. https://t.co/xCdL7ecNRK
— morgan petrov (official) (@morgansearches) April 19, 2022
😂😂The proof reader in me had to read this several times and restructure it several more times to remove the ambiguity 😅😅 https://t.co/tNjbg8AVPw
— Miss Muyezwa (@CHIHERA_vaye) April 19, 2022
I swear the Oxford comma should never be optional pic.twitter.com/tvrjKPM5Ff
— Charlie (@Chaxinitus) April 18, 2022
Keith urban whenever he sees addiction, music or his wife pic.twitter.com/MOb90FQger
— Strawhat Snorlax (@Snorlaxtm15) April 18, 2022
i’m pretty sure this counts as fighting music pic.twitter.com/AHgzn9R4uO
— DedManiels (@MadDeniels) April 18, 2022
— Noel Pascual (@noelvpascual) April 18, 2022
Music and Nicole walking up for the fight: pic.twitter.com/eXMPJEb0Jg
— Brother Nishiki (@brother_nishiki) April 18, 2022
Nicole bout to pull up. pic.twitter.com/0VoPHvItcg
— BV (@thisisnotbrian) April 18, 2022
My man fought actual sound arranged in the form of a melodic composition? pic.twitter.com/1DGpGWqTOA
— $₩☆NK F$%#! (@swankfrank) April 18, 2022
— Stacy 🦋🌻 (@auntnorma1) April 18, 2022
to everyone replying that word order is the real villain here, please know that i agree. but also remember that ain’t nobody ever had a viral tweet with the word “syntax” in it
— lizzie no (@handsomelizzie) April 17, 2022
The singer talks about: how he fought addiction; music; and his wife Nicole Kidman.
Technically works. But as many pointed out, simply swapping the order of items in the list is a much easier and elegant solution
— John LaPine (@johnlapine) April 17, 2022
Bad sentence structure–Yes. Bad punctuation–Not unless you’re against the removal of the Oxford comma. It should’ve been stated “The singer talks about music, his wife Nicole Kidman, and how he fought addiction.” The clashing verbs were the problem here. pic.twitter.com/UYg6BGxXVu
— SighKick 𓆏 (@sighkickyt) April 18, 2022
An updated version of the story on the news website now reads: “The country singer fought addiction to become one of the bestselling musicians on the planet.”