With Closed Captioning, Words Can Get in the Way

Closed captioning may be a boon for people with hearing issues, as well as for folks who are trying to watch TV in noisy kitchens, workshops and so on -- but the process by which the spoken word is translated into text is far from an exact science. As evidence, check out some recent closed-captioning gaffes that were sent to us by a regular Westword reader:

Spoken version: "...it's not only futile..."
CC version: "it's not only few tile..."

Spoken version: "...Hillary Clinton tactics..."
CC version: "...Hillary Clinton tact aches..."

Spoken version: "...Korean war came to a stalemate..."
CC version: "...Korean war came to a stale meat..."

Spoken version: "...a centrist position..."
CC version: "...a scent tryst position..."

A "scent tryst position"? That's one smelly affair. -- Michael Roberts