Rescue -- Be Careful With Word Use

This was one of your ledes:

On Tuesday afternoon, an East Lansing boy drowned after playing near a pond with friends . . .

Hold on right there. Did the boy drown? Or did he die after being buried?

Let's look at this definition of "drown" from the American Heritage Dictionary in my office:

drown. 1. To kill by submerging and suffocating in water or another liquid. 2. To drench thoroughly or cover with as if with a liquid.

The only reason I did not score this as a fatal was because of definition number 2.

At best, this is a poor choice of word use. Drown is so often associated with a watery death that this is a confusing term. If you had offset it in a more specific phrase, like an East Lansing boy drowned in dirt, then it would have been much more acceptable.

At worst, this is an outright fatal. Make sure you use the correct words that best tell the story. At the same time, make sure you fully understand the words you are using so that you are sure they are being used correctly.