I’m sure many of us who teach writing have seen this error, but it never ceases to amuse me.
My student was explaining why the judge didn’t send killer-dad to prison: he was not going to be killing anyone else anyway; he killed his son out of love (so went the claim), and so he wasn’t really a killer.
I would certainly agree that a cereal killer probably doesn’t belong in jail, whether he went wild in the supermarket aisles and slaughtered a few boxes of Quaker Oats and Rice Krispies, or ran amok in a field of wheat and chopped down some stalks. Impose a fine, sure, or community service. That should be enough to teach him a lesson not to assault pacifists, chatty elves, or amber waves of grain.
Serial killers are far, far worse. They take lives without pity and terrorize whole communities. What my student meant is right: the father in the case was not a serial killer, or at least showed no signs of becoming one.
What she wrote is probably also true. But he wasn’t on trial for murdering Müesli.
In danger?
You Knew What I Meant 
October 13th, 2012 at 3:36 pm
Ha! I’d like to see how a cereal killer would hold up against Count Chocula.
October 13th, 2012 at 6:46 pm
I’d like to see that too! The Count is pretty formidable.
October 13th, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Might one inquire how the father actually came out of all this? (We already know that the son got killed. Talk about Tough Love.)
October 13th, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Fall off the chair funny.
(Do you think that annoying Snap, Crackle, and Pop pushed him over the edge?)
October 13th, 2012 at 6:44 pm
S, C, and P look friendly, but I do think there’s a gleam in their eyes that bodes ill to those that give them grief….
October 13th, 2012 at 6:43 pm
Mary Jane– All we know is that the father was sentenced to five years’ probation. I usually don’t follow these cases beyond the actual event, because I use them for students to argue and i don’t want there to be a “right” answer. I’ve been trying to keep the father’s real name out of this, but if you’re curious email me and I’ll send you the wikipedia link I just discovered, which tells a lot of the story.
October 14th, 2012 at 9:15 am
A little lightbulb went off in my head. Perhaps cereal killers are behind those crop circles. Thank you.
October 14th, 2012 at 11:21 am
Aha! That explains everything! Love your lightbulbs, YS.