A auto-replace fail example, where runner Tyson Gay’s accomplishments were introduced with the line “Gay eases into 100 final at Olympics” becomes the much more interesting headline, “Homosexual eases into 100 final at Olympics”. Other times when runner Tyson Gay’s name is ’re-spelt’ to conform to the sensibilities of the more conservative set:
“It means a lot to me,” the 25-year-old Homosexual said. “I’m glad my body could do it, because now I know I have it in me.”
[…]
Wearing a royal blue uniform with red and white diagonal stripes across the front, along with matching shoes, all in a tribute to 1936 Olympic star Jesse Owens, Homosexual dominated the competition. He started well and pulled out to a comfortable lead by the 40-meter mark.
This time, he kept pumping those legs all the way through the finish line, extending his lead. In Saturday’s opening heat, Homosexual pulled way up, way too soon, and nearly was caught by the field, before accelerating again and lunging in for fourth place.
[…]
After the race, Homosexual and Dix looked at each other and slapped palms, then hugged.
Seems like that’s changing the news IMO, but hey, file it next to “we report, you decide!”
As for the geek tag in this story, well the famous old school Unix tool sed can do this kind of blind find and replace (if you’re not specific in how it should behave) with the following:
sed 's/gay/homosexual/g'
So go out there and see what fun phrases you can make doing the same!