Long ago, there was this radio and television superstar named Art Linkletter.

How long ago? Well, I thought of him as an old guy when I was a kid. In particular, I remember chatter about his bestseller — 50-plus years ago — with this title: “Kids Say the Darndest Things.” The idea was to collect things that children say that sound cute or even silly but, the more you think about them, these statements turn out to offer insights into life as we know it.

Why bring this up? Every now and then — once a month, maybe — I get an email from a reader offering a link to something strange that ran somewhere in a mainstream news or commentary publication (readers struggle to discern the difference, these days).

Often, the reader shares the material and then asks something like: “Are journalists really this stupid?” or “Do journalists really hate ________ this much?” The blank space in that equation will be filled with one of several different terms, such as “religious people,” “conservative Christians,” “traditional Catholics” or something else.

The link to Art Linkletter is that, from time to time, a reader — either wise, patient or cynical — will suggest that a specific example of journalists failing to “get religion” could simply be worth a chuckle, kind of a “Journalists Say the Darndest Things” take. But some readers will then pause and wonder if there is something else going on.

This brings us a recent feature at NJ.com that ran with the headline, “Ash Wednesday 2023: Can you eat eggs or meat? Can you drink coffee? A guide to fasting.” This website connects the work of several news organizations, such as The (Newark) Star-Ledger, The Times of Trenton, The South Jersey Times, etc. Here is the overture for this “news you can use” story:

On Ash Wednesday, you might see a Christian or a Catholic wearing smudged ashes on their forehead.

Maybe you are a practicing Christian and are fasting this Ash Wednesday, and you are wondering what you can and cannot eat on the first day of Lent. Here is what you need to know about this first day of Lent in most Christian denominations and the rules of fasting.

Read that first sentence again.