Sarah Palin’s advisors “sniped with other Republicans,” reports AP’s Rachel d’Oro.

She means “argued with.”

Her spokeswoman “shot down speculation” that Palin would do such and such.

She means “tried to shoot down” or “denied,” unless d’Oro wants to say the spokeswoman convinced her, which goes against standard practice.

Then there’s this from Wm. Yardley in NY Times:

So while her announcement on Friday that she would step down less than three years into her term made for shocking political news, it kind of felt familiar to many Alaskans.

“Kind of”?  In the nation’s newspaper?  Why not just “kinda”?  With a “gosh” thrown in?

And this from Andy Ostroy at Huffington Post:  Palin “literally came out of nowhere” on to the national scene.

Look.  No one literally comes out of nowhere.  Literally she came out of Wasilla, figuratively out of nowhere.