NBC’s Olympics coverage has generated an awful lot of laughably awkward prose – my favorite was the gymnastics commentator (not sure who – don’t think it was Al Trautwig) who remarked that “If the Chinese spell ‘history’ with a capital H, that goes double for their rivalry with Japan.”

At least TV commentators, though, can argue that they need to fill hours of broadcast time with no ability to go back and edit themselves. The New York Times doesn’t have that excuse for this line that appeared in an article today about one-legged Olympic swimmer Natalie du Toit:

Her right leg works overtime, cramping in long races. Exhaustion drops her hips low into the water. A chiropractor must balance her body, as if it were a checkbook.

If the New York Times is using chiropractors to balance its checkbook, that explains a lot.