facepalm

  • How to Lose French and Alienate People

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Social Media

    The stylebook of Associated Press (AP), the largest news agency in the USA is a highly regarded reference work for journalists wishing to improve their written English.

    The same cannot be said of the AP Stylebook Twitter account which posted the tweet below on Thursday.

    Tweet reads We recommend avoiding general and often dehumanizing β€œthe” labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the French, the disabled, the college-educated. Instead, use wording such as people with mental illnesses. And use these descriptions only when clearly relevant.
    Zut alors !

    The offending post has since been deleted, the BBC reports.

    Before its deletion, the advice was widely mocked by Francophones and Francophiles. Even the French embassy in the USA joined in the derision, briefly changing its name to the “Embassy of Frenchness in the United States“.

    Writer Sarah Haider responded that there was “nothing as dehumanizing as being considered one of the French” and that a better term was “suffering from Frenchness“, whilst political scientist Ian Bremmer suggested “people experiencing Frenchness” as a possible alternative.

    Washington Post journalist Megan McArdle also joined in the fun: “The people experiencing journalism at the AP have their work cut out for them“.

    After the tweet had been deleted, those in charge of the AP Stylebook Twitter account said their reference to French people had been “inappropriate” and that it “did not intend to offend“.

    The moral of this story: think before you tweet.

  • An insult to Welsh history

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities
    In March 1931 Conservative Party leader Stanley Baldwin laid into the press, whose proprietors wanted him ousted as party leader, accusing them of “power without responsibility – the prerogative of the harlot throughout the ages“.

    Today’s fourth estate is densely populated with irresponsible harlots whether one peruses the national or local press.

    At this point your ‘umble scribe, would refer readers to a piece in today’s Daily Post/North Wales Live, which reviews an Indian restaurant in Corwen and whose headline is shown in the following screenshot. Headline reads The award-winning North Wales curry house which is almost as legendary as Owain Glyndwr

    The first comment below the piece at the time of drafting also uses the insult to describe the flippant use of comparison and hyperbole in it, whilst the other 2 reader comments were similarly dismissive.

    A restaurant winning an award for its food is hardly a match for the feats of Owain GlyndΕ΅r, the last Welsh of Wales proclaimed by popular support, who lead an armed rebellion and 15 years long war of independence against the English colonisers during the late Middle Ages. Amongst his other achievements, he was He also an educated lawyer and formed the first Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru), which sat in Machynlleth.

    Owain’s body was famously never found, so his date of death is unknown; he just vanished into the hills, although it is not known whether Welsh curry houses retreat into the uplands when their time is up.

    Anyway, in case any passing restaurant reviewers working for Reach plc’s Welsh titles happen to be reading this, please find below a handy reference guide showing the difference between Welsh heroes and restaurants to avoid further confusion. πŸ˜‰

    Private Eye style lookalike graphic

  • Festive digital dyslexia from Reach

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities

    It might be the festive season, but the mission of Reach plc titles all over the country to murder the English language and sow confusion instead of enlightenment continues unabated.

    Christmas Eve saw the publication of the piece shown in the screenshot below where the person responsible for the headline seems oblivious to the fact that there are differences in meaning between chances and changes and doesn’t have the nous to check their copy after drafting

    . Headline reads Rise in fly-tipping in Carmarthenshire feared when recycling chances come in

    I wonder if the ‘journalist‘ responsible will be tucking into roast turnkey this Christmas Day lunchtime. πŸ˜€

  • Ball games signage ‘band’

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities

    Today’s South Wales Argus reports that Caerphilly County Borough Council in South Wales has been grappling with the matter of ballgames[sic], leading to them being “band“

    Headline reads Caerphilly council band 'no ballgames here' signs

    After her compulsory period of exile in Homophone Corner, Local Democracy Reporter Rhiannon James (or the Argus’ headline writer, if different. Ed.) also ought to ask bosses for a keyboard with a working space bar and/or a functioning spellchecker. πŸ˜€

  • Brides to stay

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities

    Judging by the home page of today’s Reach plc Daily Post/North Wales Live title, one could be led to believe that human trafficking and forced marriage are alive and well in Talybont north of Abermaw/Barmouth in Gwynedd.

    Headline reads Holiday park so popular people have offered brides to stay is named the best in Wales

    However, it is only when one reads the article that it is revealed that brown envelopes of cash have been proffered, not marriageable women.

    The front page has since been amended.

  • Shropshire Star exclusive: Clun migrates 50 km

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities

    Clun in the far south-west of Shropshire is quite a sleepy place with romantic castle ruins, some fine real ale pubs, a wonderful youth hostel in a former water mill and the Offa’s Dyke Path within staggering distance.

    It is a world away from Telford, the largest urban area within the ceremonial county with a population of 185,600.

    Nevertheless, Friday’s Shropshire Star reported that due to dodgy website tagging and editing, Clun has moved 50km (that’s 30 miles in old money. Ed.) and has now been absorbed into the unitary authority of Telford & Wrekin, as shown by the following screenshot.

    Screenshot of Shropshire Star article placing Clun within Telford

    The reaction of the good burghers of Clun to the news of the town’s eastward migration has not yet been reported. πŸ˜€

    However, the fact that the article’s tagging bears no relationship to the copy hints that the tags are edited by a different person to the one writing the actual report.

  • Standards?

    Steve WoodsBristol, Oddities

    DVSA logoThe government’s Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) is based in Croydon Street in the Easton area of Bristol. It is based in Berkeley House (not to be confused with its city centre namesake which houses students. Ed.), former headquarters of the Bristol Omnibus Company.

    According to its Wikipedia page, the DVSA is responsible for:

    • setting the standard for safe and responsible driving and riding;
    • carrying out theory and practical driving tests for all types of motor vehicles;
    • maintaining the register of approved driving instructors;
    • approving training bodies and instructors to provide compulsory basic training and direct access scheme courses for motorcyclists;
    • running the tests that allow people to join and stay on the voluntary register of driver trainers who train drivers of car and van fleets;
    • setting the standards for the drink-drive rehabilitation scheme, running the scheme and approving the courses that offenders can take;
    • conducting annual testing of lorries, buses and trailers through authorised testing facilities (ATFs) and goods vehicle testing stations (GVTS);
    • conducting routine and targeted checks on vehicles, drivers and operators ensuring compliance with road safety legislation and environmental standards;
    • supervising the MOT scheme so that over 20,000 authorised garages carry out MOT tests to the correct standards;
    • providing administrative support to the regional Traffic commissioners in considering and processing applications for licences to operate lorries, buses, coaches and registered bus services;
    • conducting post-collision investigations;
    • monitoring products for manufacturing or design defects, highlighting safety concerns and monitoring safety recalls;
    • providing a range of educational and advisory activities to promote road safety.

    However, judging from the present environs of Berkeley House, your correspondent wonders how good a job the DVSA is actually doing.

    Firstly, there’s a toppled 20 mph sign at the junction of Lawrence Hill and Croydon Street immediately opposite the DVSA’s premises. The agency’s logo is on the sign behind the pale blue fence in the background to the crash site.

    Toppled 20 mph speed limit sign outside DVSA headquarters

    Now let’s move a bit further west down Croydon Street following the site’s blue-painted steel railings…

    Railings demolished by vehicle collision outside DVSA headquarters

    No further comment is necessary from your ‘umble scribe, except maybe to paraphrase Oscar Wilde’s Lady Bracknell: ‘To crash once Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune; to crash twice looks like carelessness.’. πŸ˜€

  • Reach Welsh titles’ exclusives: Hurricane Ian drops rain on Wales

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities

    At the time of writing, Hurricane Ian, the ninth named hurricane of this year’s Atlantic hurricane season, is off the coast of North and South Carolina on the eastern seaboard of the United States. Any remnant of said hurricane, downgraded to a tropical storm by the time it starts crossing the Atlantic, is not expected to dump any of its remaining rain on the shores of Great Britain for many days yet.

    The exact location of Hurricane Ian comes courtesy of the USA’s National Hurricane Center, as shown below.

    Image from National Hurricane Center showing current location of Hurricane Ian

    However, this has not stopped both Wales Online and the Daily Post (aka North Wales Live. Ed.), the 2 Reach plc regional news titles covering North and South Wales respectively, from coming up with similar misleading stories (fairy tales surely? Ed.) on today’s pages of their respective ‘news‘ websites. The Daily Post story can be seen here and the Wales Online story here. Note also the use of ‘amid‘ in the Wales Online headline (posts passim).

    Headline reads Hurricane Ian LIVE updates as US storm fall out hits North Wales with gale-force winds and downpours
    Which hurricane, Daily Post?
    Headline reads Live updates as rain and wind set to hit Wales amid expected Hurricane Ian fallout
    Same question to you, Wales Online.

    If the fourth estate cannot even get the names and locations of extreme weather events correct, what else should they not be trusted about?

  • Shropshire Star journalist gives up after enigmatic byline

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Oddities

    The screenshot below is the full extent of an article* which has appeared this morning on on the Shropshire Star website.

    Headline reads Aldi seeks go-ahead for signs at new Shrewsbury store
    You’ve got the headline, what more do you want?

    Given the modern journalistic tendency of trying squeeze the whole story into the headline, perhaps there was no need to write much more than a tokenistic byline, concerning which your ‘umble scribe would be most grateful if any readers knowing what the gfgfgfg byline signifies could offer their thoughts in the comments below. Thanks! πŸ˜€

    * = The article has since been removed.

Posts navigation