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A blog about English language use, publishing and the media in general – brought to you by a sub-editor (copy editor) on a weekly UK magazine and his former chief sub.
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Recent Posts Tagged With 'ambiguity'
POST-OFFICE PICK-ME-UP
The London Evening Standard today ran a feature on "multi-tasking beauty treatments" ('Party Season Pit Stops', page 36). One of the crossheads was rather ambiguous:FOR MEN WHO NEED A POST-OFFICE PICK-ME-UPI'm a man, and the only thing I'm likely to ...
Headline: Grant seals return to Portsmouth
I first saw this headline out of context - in a giant news ticker in the window of my local Sainsbury's supermarket. It left me wondering what Grant seals were, and why they had abandoned Portsmouth in the first place. Perhaps the water was too pollu...
Sky's professional standard install
Satellite TV company Sky had a promotional van parked in my local town centre today. Among the services and products being promoted was a "professional standard install". This could mean:a) The standard install(ation) is professional. In which case, ...
Headlines: Gordon Brown ordered mission...
R Mason spotted this poorly written headline on the Times Online website:She writes:When I first read this, I wondered: why would a mission hold a journalist? Why would Gordon Brown give it orders?(If you can't see the picture, the headline reads: "G...
Savoury cheese on a soft white bap
As you can see, we have here a savoury cheese bap:Presumably it's savoury primarily in the sense of "pleasing to the taste; appetizing; agreeable" (OED).For me, though, the first meaning of savoury is 'the opposite of sweet' - and as I would always e...
Ex-minister Blears' car attacked
I didn't know that Hazel Blears' car used to be a cabinet minister:According to a BBC News story today:Former cabinet minister Hazel Blears' car has been attacked while she was out canvassing voters.I wonder whether the car fiddled its expenses. Sorr...
Nuts 4 Beer
I didn't blog yesterday because I was at the Great British Beer Festival.Talking of which, you'd have to be desperate for a pint to take up this offer: ...
Paws for thought
There's a bizarre little story in today's Metro, under the headline "Cats know their right from left". Here it is in full:Cats can tell the difference between left and right, scientists say. And like humans, male moggies are more likely to use their ...
A Quiet Belief in Sandwiches
I'm currently reading - and enjoying - A Quiet Belief in Angels, by RJ Ellory. Here's a nice ambiguity from chapter 10 of the novel:My mother said nothing of consequence. She asked if I'd left the sandwiches she'd made in Reilly Hawkins' truck. She a...
A large fruit drink supplier
I noticed that one of our recent stories made reference to a "large fruit drink supplier". Obviously that's a large supplier of fruit drinks, but wouldn't it be nice if the company only supplied large fruit drinks, or drinks made from large fruit? I'...
Edible oil tanker operator
Today I subbed a story that mentioned an "edible oil tanker operator". That could be:An operator of oil tankers that are edibleAn edible operator of oil tankersAn operator of tankers of edible oilI presumed it was the last... ...
Headines: 'Pilot recycling scheme under way'
A colleague of mine, Sue, has pointed out this great BBC News headline:"What do you do with recycled pilots, I wonder?" Sue asks.Which reminds me of that old saying: "Old pilots never die, they just go to a higher plane..." ...
Beavers! Introduced to the wild!
A story in today's Daily Mail begins:They have not been introduced to the wild for more than 400 years.But yesterday two families of beavers were released in Britain – to the anguish of anglers and the delight of environmentalists.This implies that...
Sub deaths caused by 'failures'
It's dangerous work being a sub editor, at least according to the third story in this BBC News widget:(Actually, the story was about submariners...) ...
Advanced word course
Here's something from The Engine Room email archive (rather shockingly, dating back to 2007). It highlights the importance of capitalisation:I got involved in an email chat today. One of my friends apologised for a late response, saying: "I've been o...
Six-yearly, bi-monthly, every two months
Working on a magazine supplement this evening, I was surprised to read in the small print at the bottom of the flannel panel: "This supplement is published six-yearly."The writer meant 'six times a year', but of course his turn of phrase could be tak...
Gordon Brown sorry over assault arrest. Really?
Headline four in this BBC News widget left me wondering who Prime Minister Gordon Brown might have assaulted:It turns out that the story was about R&B star Chris Brown... but how was I supposed to know that? I imagine that most UK readers would t...
EU gives shark protection teeth
I was very briefly confused by the bottom headline in this 'Other top stories' widget on the Science & Environment section of the BBC News website:It left me wondering what 'protection teeth' were, and why the EU would give some to a shark. Surel...
