I've seen a lot of inadvertent closed captioning errors. Some of them make no sense and it just seems like something gets mixed up in the programming. One time Riker told the crew of the USS Enterprise to "prepare for a HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" while he was disengaging.

This one seems like that, but unfortunately, less innocuous.
Shelly | 06.06.06 - 12:51 pm | #

Matt Hughes can sound like Saddam Hussein... it's possible the captioner was doing the news earlier and erred when she heard "Matt Hughes."

Remember, the captioning was done live so you'll have to expect a lot of errors.
Wiggums | 06.06.06 - 2:15 pm | #

Sounds like some sicko was saying S.H. was champion of the world. Doesn't look like it was aimed at Matt Hughes, but at the rest of the sane world.
Florida Fan | 06.06.06 - 2:34 pm | #

We all don't know what happened and how "Saddam Hussein" got into the captioning but it was captioned live nonetheless. And secondly, "Matt Hughes" does NOT sound like "Saddam Hussein."

Whether it was done with malice or not, I meant it in a facetious way.

Sure, we get captioning errors over phonetically sounding words all the time. I've seen it many times, but not when you have words like "Matt Hughes" and "Saddam Hussein".

Shelly, sure. However, these were taped shows. I could probably expect some bloopers CC during live captioning, but taped shows at this day and age?
mcconnell | Homepage | 06.06.06 - 4:53 pm | #

Also, the captioner knows this is a UFC fight. Did she/he not know who Matt Hughes is? Why would "Saddam Hussein" be brought up at the beginning introduction of the fighters?
mcconnell | Homepage | 06.06.06 - 7:15 pm | #

To view Hamill fighting video:



(edited by Kokonut. Copyright concerns)
Grant W Laird Jr | Homepage | 06.06.06 - 7:15 pm | #

Thanks, Grant. But it's awfully long..346 mb. It's the whole episode about Matt and his fight with Nickels! Can you reduce it to a few select fight scenes? There is this copyright issue and showing a short clip of it may be a better idea than having a long one.
mcconnell | Homepage | 06.07.06 - 8:40 am | #

Matt Hughes may not sound like Saddam Hussein... but some people say Saddim with the "i" being very light... and Hughes can sound like Hussein if it was said very quietly.

Sadd'm Huss'n. No doubt the captioner erred, but I don't think malice played a role. If it wasn't done real-time, that kind of error is simply inexcusable.
Wiggums | 06.07.06 - 12:50 pm | #

No, not malice...just being facetious over there.
mcconnell | Homepage | 06.07.06 - 5:01 pm | #

Gee... you get all uptight over that blooper?

I have seen CART typists make errors while typing. They use lookup dictionary for their shortcuts and contrary to what you said, it doesn't ALWAYS have to be phonetic-sounding.
jeff | Homepage | 06.08.06 - 1:47 pm | #

I wonder what a Royce Gracie Closed Captioned shortcut would be? Chavez? Fidel Castro? Qadafy?
mcconnell | Homepage | 06.08.06 - 2:45 pm | #

Soundex is a phonetic algorithm for indexing names by their sound when pronounced in English http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundex

Saddam Hussein and Matt Hughes resolve as:

s3525
m3252

They don't substitute for the first letter so that it can be alphabetically indexed. The captioner is probably using the numerical substitute for the first sound because she's not indexing.

23525
53252

Starting to look like a typo? Then her software, like Microsoft Word's autotext, supplies the alphabetical spelling of the soundex code based on some algorithm that establishes priority based on historical frequency and context, and even allows for typographical error. So here, the algorithm assumed a typo because Matt Hughes wasn't in the database, and the captioner just kept typing.

I just made that up. I don't have any idea if it's true, but it seems at least as likely an explanation as malovent mischief.
John Noble | 06.15.06 - 6:49 pm | #