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What Happen With That Cover, Atlanta Voice? Why It Happen?

Chile, today’s cackles have been provided by the Atlanta Voice, and I blame/thank Jamilah Lemieux for bringing it to my attention via her Instagram account. The newspaper’s latest issue cover is below. Read it and howl.

Atlanta Voice FAIL

After I finished cackling like a hyena in Prideland, I went “Nooooooooooooo!!!” And then I hollered some more because HAAAAAAAA!!! WHAT HAPPEN? WHY IT HAPPEN? Who failed English? I have so many questions.

Did the copywriter not make it into the office because of the snow? Was their gmail down so they couldn’t get someone else to do the work? How did this cover get printed without anyone catching this epic fail? Even beyond the spelling is the random capitalization. They didn’t even TRY! The proof passed hands and everyone was all “Yup. Looks right.”

I can’t even focus on the story of their Snowpocalypse because I’m too busy laughing until tears fall out my eyeballs. I guess folks tweeted them about the error so they offered this up:

Atlanta Voice Tweet

Yes. PLEASE do better because this is a shame. Even a quick run through Microsoft Word coulda caught this mistake. Did someone get their “look it over” privileges revoked? I know we all make mistakes but this one is so careless. THE DOGGONE COVER!

I mean for real. This looks so amateurish that you wouldn’t think this is a publication that has existed for *counts on fingers* 48 years. Oh, Atlanta Voice.

I woulda told whoever was responsible for this to go sit in the corner because they had ONE JOB.

fail failed gif

What I do know is I’m about to be walking around asking people “Why it happen?” for no reason. See? This is how I pick up bad habits and say stuff like ALPHETS (outfits) and SELF OF STEAM (self-esteem). At least this time, it wasn’t Twitter’s fault.

So what tips do y’all have for the staff of the Atlanta Voice so this won’t happen again?

P.S. HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

Edit: They made a correction on the website.

AtL voice correction

“Why It Happened?” So close, yet so far.

How you gon win when you ain’t right within, Atlanta Voice? SMDH.

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80 Comments

  1. Tracey
    February 4, 2014 at 1:07 pm

    Wow! It would’ve been better to just make the headline, “…See what had happened was….”

    • klud
      February 4, 2014 at 1:23 pm

      See, what had happen, was…

      • Tracey
        February 4, 2014 at 1:24 pm

        Flubbed my own joke. Think the Atlanta Voice will hire me?

        • English Teacher
          February 4, 2014 at 1:38 pm

          No, you were right. It IS “what had happened was…”

        • QueenSista
          February 4, 2014 at 2:11 pm

          Why it Happen?

        • yourmomzzz
          February 4, 2014 at 9:50 pm

          you are all wrong. it’s see, whaa had happen whaa… (no s and the whaa and whaa are the same.

          duh.

        • BlackConundrum
          February 6, 2014 at 8:24 am

          All wrong. Its written phonetically: whahadhappen wuuz. Standard spelling and grammar need not apply.

        • BlackConundrum
          February 6, 2014 at 8:27 am

          Slight addendum, wathadhappen wuz is also acceptable.

    • February 5, 2014 at 9:11 am

      LMBO!!! Perfect!

  2. laddibugg
    February 4, 2014 at 1:08 pm

    Someone is writing like they speak, and forgot to code switch I suppose.

  3. February 4, 2014 at 1:10 pm

    Ugh…even the capitalization is all wrong. They could at least be consistent.

  4. Ria
    February 4, 2014 at 1:16 pm

    Can they get some points for spelling debacle correctly?

  5. Nicole Henry
    February 4, 2014 at 1:27 pm

    I just thought it was GA speak…. Whut it do, shawtie???!

    • Christy
      February 4, 2014 at 2:43 pm

      ROFL!!! This had me on the floor!!!

      • Lurker
        February 4, 2014 at 7:07 pm

        Lol!

    • February 5, 2014 at 1:57 am

      LOLOLOLOL!

    • i'm sleep tho...
      February 5, 2014 at 10:35 am

      haaaa!!!

    • EmilyD
      February 6, 2014 at 10:21 pm

      I am CRYING!

  6. Deja
    February 4, 2014 at 1:27 pm

    Their retraction article will be called, “Why It Happen?”…Why It Happen?

  7. Margaret
    February 4, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    What’s going on with the random capitalized words in on the cover? The only thing missing is a few random hashtags. Tomorrow’s paper will read “Who did It?” “Why they Did It?”

    • Lanene
      February 4, 2014 at 2:12 pm

      More like, Who Done Did it? Wth DID they done did it? LOL!

      • Anna Renee
        February 4, 2014 at 7:25 pm

        HAAA!! Now dats dat ebonics dat I love to speak!

      • mariam
        February 5, 2014 at 12:36 am

        they done did it Lol

      • Ann Marie
        February 5, 2014 at 5:38 am

        wha it be Done been did?

    • Denise
      February 4, 2014 at 6:56 pm

      Who done it? Why They do it?

  8. February 4, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    What part of the Caribbean did the writer come from? Those verbs are as green as limes from Trinidad. *cackle*

    • Crissy
      February 4, 2014 at 3:55 pm

      Ent?! I was just thinking the same. Bunch of Trinis working at The Atlanta Voice.

  9. kenz
    February 4, 2014 at 2:10 pm

    all i heard was Ricky Ricardo’s voice yelling at Lucy “WHAA HAPPPANN”

  10. milaxx
    February 4, 2014 at 2:16 pm

    ATL just needs to chill until springtime. The winter has not be kind to them and the rest of the nation is cackling far too much at their expense.

  11. howling
    February 4, 2014 at 2:33 pm

    WAIT – did anyone go to their website? they made a slight change/attempt to correct. i am HOWLING!

    http://theatlantavoice.com/news/2014/jan/31/atlantas-snow-debacle-2014/

    • Christy
      February 4, 2014 at 2:46 pm

      And they STILL haven’t caught the random capitalization?!?! Truly, someone needs to be in a corner…meanwhile, I’ll just laugh!

      • Meredith
        February 5, 2014 at 1:05 pm

        That’s what’s bothering me the most now. You took the opportunity and time to correct it, yet they STILL missed a blatant error…smh. Mess…

        • Pete
          February 5, 2014 at 4:55 pm

          Still missed ONE blatant error? The whole second sentence isn’t even a question? They hardly fixed it.

          It should read:

          What happened. Why it happened. Can it happen again?

          OR, probably better given the placement:

          What Happened
          Why It Happened
          Can It Happen Again?

          It’s not rocket science.

    • That Dude
      February 4, 2014 at 8:31 pm

      I’m so mad that its now: “What happened? Why It Happened? Can it happen Again?”

      Because that’s a complete fix…bless their hearts. O__O

  12. Nicole
    February 4, 2014 at 2:43 pm

    Wait a minute…… Was it really called Winter Storm Leon???? Chile please….

    • Kwan
      February 4, 2014 at 5:57 pm

      I AM DYING over that!

    • i'm sleep tho...
      February 5, 2014 at 10:36 am

      lmaooo not leon tho

  13. February 4, 2014 at 2:52 pm

    “What Happen! Why it happen!” sounds like what my Haitian mom screamed at me after my many terrible report cards back in the day… :-/

  14. deejai
    February 4, 2014 at 2:56 pm

    hey it happens. long nights, deadlines, some shit falls through the cracks, even on covers. I’m more upset they used reverse type on white… horrid.

  15. MrsDBo419
    February 4, 2014 at 2:57 pm

    See in my head I didn’t even get it, until I read what you wrote I said happened, lol. I was like Damn I’m as dumb as they are, ctfu.

  16. Margaret
    February 4, 2014 at 3:01 pm

    Now that I think about it…maybe the editor was still stuck on the highway.

  17. ayah
    February 4, 2014 at 5:26 pm

    Naw man, must be a whole heap o’ Jamaicans working at that paper. That’s exactly how we talk! I’m over here *deadin’ wid laugh”!

    • February 5, 2014 at 10:16 am

      Lol. That’s what I thought. I even read it like we, then I realised ah nuh so it go!

    • Leo the Yardie Chick
      February 6, 2014 at 4:53 pm

      For real! Like seh a dem Yaad blog dem deh pon.

      • MissTish
        September 29, 2015 at 1:55 pm

        You and Pash sound like the beauty parlors on Flatbush Ave. Even when 60% of the grammar goes right over my head, the convo is funny as hell!

  18. HBSQ1
    February 4, 2014 at 5:32 pm

    It looks like someone typed the cover text AND the edited text on their blackberry. :-/

    “What happened? Why It Happened? Can it happen Again?”

  19. Margaret
    February 4, 2014 at 5:38 pm

    I REALLY wish they’d ended it with “What Is we Gon’ do?”

    • Kwan
      February 4, 2014 at 6:15 pm

      Lmao!

    • February 4, 2014 at 8:06 pm

      #Dead #ByeFelicia LMAO

    • i'm sleep tho...
      February 5, 2014 at 10:37 am

      dead and fucking buried

    • Randomly Jazzy
      February 6, 2014 at 5:07 pm

      LMAO

    • YvMarie
      February 7, 2016 at 9:18 am

      That’s Brilliant!!! LMAO!!!

  20. February 4, 2014 at 6:26 pm

    the copy editor was still out on a “snow day”…

  21. James
    February 4, 2014 at 7:21 pm

    Well, you don’t have room to talk. Your article is written even worse than the front page of that publication. So I think you should sit down… in an English class.

    • February 4, 2014 at 7:22 pm

      You must be the editor. Aawwwww.

      • Anna Renee
        February 4, 2014 at 7:32 pm

        😉

      • Marki
        September 29, 2015 at 4:06 pm

        No this muthaf.. ((sigh))
        I’mma James to take all of the seats. All Uv’Em.

  22. Gayle
    February 4, 2014 at 8:00 pm

    So maybe I shouldn’t correct my lovely girls (2nd grade, native Arabic speakers) when, after I give directions for an assignment, they ask me, “what do Miss?”……there is a job for errrrrrbody sumwhere!

  23. Calvin
    February 4, 2014 at 8:29 pm

    “ALPHETS (outfits) and SELF OF STEAM (self-esteem)”

    I laughed so hard I had an outer body xperinse.

    *out-of-body experience. Luvvie will NOT catch me slipping!

  24. February 4, 2014 at 8:41 pm

    We all make mistakes. We know this (in my Smokey voice).

    BUT I always wonder how these people get hired for such high levels of wonderful, and let something like this escape their notice. Maybe I should call ’em and let ’em know my gmail is always monitored 😉

  25. Sheabudda
    February 4, 2014 at 8:44 pm
  26. Reese24679
    February 4, 2014 at 8:45 pm

    This was a guest editorial piece by Fantasia.

    • KDS
      February 5, 2014 at 12:58 pm

      LOL!!!

  27. Merissa
    February 4, 2014 at 11:37 pm

    Your grammar can use some improvement too.

    • Harlembrotha
      February 5, 2014 at 11:20 am

      Thank you! I thought I was the only one who noticed. “Woulda” and “coulda” are not words (would have and could have, are correct). Also, “copy editors” proof headlines, not copywriters (they write advertising copy).

      And even after the Atlanta Voice corrected their headline on their website, it was incorrect to write, “Why It Happened?” That’s a statement, not a question and doesn’t need a question mark at the end.

      • Flyy
        February 7, 2014 at 2:16 pm

        You noticed all of that, but didn’t notice this is a humor blog and not a news publication?

        Oh ok.

  28. Charles
    February 5, 2014 at 10:23 am

    Did they hire this guy as the headline editor?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzyCi1BFATA

  29. Tamika Washington
    February 5, 2014 at 11:23 am

    Look, folks. What’s the big deal. This is just Ebonics. Atlanta is all about Ebonics.

    • YvMarie
      February 7, 2016 at 9:24 am

      ATL is a whole nother country w/their own language.

  30. February 5, 2014 at 11:39 am

    We have all come together on a trivial element of writing I really love it when we bash each other better than they do? Wow!

  31. February 5, 2014 at 12:20 pm

    As an Atlantan, I am appalled. As an English PhD, I am ashamed. But it appears that someone named “Holly Yan” is responsible for this article. Let’s pray that English is her second language or something, hence the troubles.

    BTW: That ice condition we had..I can’t even laugh at that. I just live here..*sigh*

  32. Annette
    February 5, 2014 at 12:24 pm

    My question is how will you make sure it won’t happen again. The thing is I don’t think they realized there was anything wrong about it. If The Altanta Voice is about Ebonics then they need to mention it somewhere in the fine print.

  33. Joel
    February 5, 2014 at 1:55 pm

    Even with the correction, would “Why It Happened” really be a question or statement? “Why Did It Happen?” is a question. “Why it happened” is not.

    • YvMarie
      February 7, 2016 at 9:26 am

      A+

  34. Tom
    February 5, 2014 at 7:37 pm

    The only thing missing from the headline was:

    Someone set us up the bomb.

  35. Simone
    February 5, 2014 at 11:00 pm

    I’m so glad that I was sitting at home reading this because I HOLLERED thru the ENTIRE read! “Self of Steam”!!! I wasn’t ready!

  36. Tom
    February 8, 2014 at 11:32 am

    WHY IT PUT DA BOOTERANG ON DA SKIN?? WHY

  37. […] Aw damb. Whappened? Why it happen? […]

  38. Nikki
    April 7, 2014 at 3:59 pm

    what had happened wuzzz.

    and WHY is the “correction” still jacked? I’m ready for a new job and a move to ATL, and am presuming there are lots of openings at the ATL Voice for ANYBODY who can read and write English. Where do I send my resume?

  39. LadyNa
    September 30, 2015 at 9:19 pm

    what snow…!?!