If you're on the air often enough, you'll eventually make a split-the-difference mistake. For instance, you'll intend to close your show by saying, "This has been..." or "My name is..." Instead, here's what will happen. Out of common decency, I've changed the announcer's name:
Yesterday, while listening to radio stations from several different states, I heard an announcer end his show by saying, "My name has been John Smith." After a pause, he clarified, "Actually, my name still is John Smith."
The announcer's syntax error reminded me of an on-air weather report I did years ago. I intended to say, "Things are still pretty soaked out there due to last night's heavy rain." Instead, I inadvertently began, "Things are still pretty soaked out there due to those..."
"Those?" I thought. "Why did I say, 'those?' Where do I go from here?"
I completed the sentence, "...droplets of rain that fell last night."
That might have been the only time I used the phrase, "droplets of rain," on the air. I wish I'd referred to the rain as "those showers" or "those buckets of rain." "Droplets" came to mind first, even though the word understated how heavily it had rained.
Such is the risk of ad-libbing on the air.
