Since havoc is generally an undesirable situation, wouldn’t wrecking havoc be a good thing? Then what’s the problem reported on Yahoo! Sports?
The problem is the bees were there to wreak havoc, or bring about damage or destruction.
Nobody likes havoc, right? So anything that destroys havoc is a good thing, right? So a greasy burger and fries will destroy havoc. At least that’s what the brilliant writer at Yahoo! Shine tells us:
Ha-ha! We all know what the writer does not: The correct word is wreaks, not wrecks. Wreak means to “bring about or cause.”
So, it looks like wild pigs are wrecking havoc in Texas. And that is a good thing. If they’re wrecking havoc, they are destroying it. Good thing they aren’t wreaking havoc, because then they’d be causing it:
Thanks to those crackerjack, ace journalists at Yahoo! News we’ll always be informed of the good works done by wild pigs.
Oh, lordie. I just ran across something called Yahoo! Editors’ Picks. If this is the product of real editors, I weep for the future of the language:
Omitting a hyphen or two isn’t a horrible mistake. But wreaking havoc on English with that laughable world choice? Priceless. And “the Europe”? Perhaps the editors spent too much time listening to Miss Teen USA South Carolina 2007’s description of “the Iraq.” I suggest they spend more time with a dictionary.
It probably makes sense to the writer on the Yahoo! front page: Wreck havoc before it wrecks you.
But did the storms wreck havoc or cause it? If it’s the latter, then the word you want is wreak.
Someone is wreaking havoc with a common expression on Yahoo! Video: