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Solving your writing problems since 1998! |
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The
Write Way
11 April 2008 Are You Sure That's Right? Greetings, There's an old saying, "a place for everything, and everything in its place" that many of us would do well to note, especially the people who write news bulletins. By way of illustration, let me tell you about a tragic news story from a couple of weeks ago ... It involved one of those family dramas between estranged spouses -- the male half had opted out of marital bliss in favour of greener pastures, leaving behind his wife and a couple of young children. Meanwhile, the wife had decided she needed someone else, so had invited her boyfriend (sorry ... "partner") to move in, which he promptly did. Then the husband's new girlfriend gave him his marching orders, so he did what any red-blooded man would do and returned to his wife and kids, and by all reports was a tad miffed when she told him his spot was occupied. Now, if that were you or me, we'd probably swear and curse a bit, cry, kick the furniture, go for a run, eat chocolate, max out the credit card or do one of the hundred other things we humans do when we need to let off steam. But what did the subject of our story do? He went and got a gun (and that's not as easy out here as in some parts of the world), returned to his home late at night, broke down the door and took his family and the new boyfriend hostage. You know that this is going to end in tears ... and it did. As one newsreader breathlessly reported later that fateful day, "The stand-off resulted in two fatalities; the gunman shot himself and one other person." Is it just me, or does that also strike you as highly unlikely? I can see how there could be two fatalities if the gunman shot one other person and then himself, but ...? Yes, I know each shot may not have been fatal initially and that one person could have survived longer than the other ... but at first hearing, you have to admit it makes you shake your head in wonder, which brings us, sadly contemplating the waste of lives, to this week's topic: confusion. Let's take a quick look at some of the ways writers confuse their readers (none of us do any of these things, of course!) 1. Confusing word order - as in our example above. 2. Misuse of commas e.g. leaving out the serial comma in a list can have some interesting consequences, as these examples show: "To my parents, Ayn Rand and God." "For lunch we ordered BLT, peanut butter and tuna sandwiches from the delicatessen." "Here lies Charlie Weeks, a lawyer and an honest man." (Sorry ... couldn't resist that one.) "Door prizes will include lab equipment, books written by members of the bio department and a fruitcake." 3. Vague pronoun reference e.g. "The boy and his father knew that he was in trouble." (Who, exactly, was in trouble?) 4. Double negatives e.g. "He is not unwilling to help." (I always hated double negative questions on those IQ tests that were all the go when I was a teenager ... Very confusing!) 5. Misplaced modifiers e.g. "I have some curried egg sandwiches my mother made in my lunch bag." (Clever mum!) Righto ... that should keep you alert for now. You'll find more ways to avoid confusion in this week's Little Something Extra.
This week's quiz: OK ... match these up with their meanings below: pinguid, pilose, lunule, cicatrix, oleaginous, machicolation, delitescent, putative, lubricious, prandial 1. falsely or smugly earnest; unctuous 2. lying concealed; hidden 3. of or relating to a meal 4. scar left by the formation of new connective tissue over a healing sore or wound 5. crescent-shaped area at the base of the human fingernail 6. covered in fine, soft hair 7. projecting gallery at the top of a castle wall, supported by a row of corbelled arches and having openings in the floor through which stones and boiling liquids could be dropped on attackers; one of these openings 8. shifty or tricky; lewd, wanton 9. generally regarded as such; supposed 10. fat; oily And speaking as we were about mistakes, here's a tale that should make us all grateful that technology has improved: Old linotype machines used in the newspaper industry had a tendency to substitute the letter 'i' for 'a' or 'o,' which could have some disastrous repercussions, as this extract from The Times report on Queen Victoria opening the Forth Bridge illustrates, "The Queen herself graciously pissed over the magnificent edifice." Staff in a bookshop have become familiar with the malapropisms of their customers and know that buyers asking for "Silent Mourner" really want to read "Silas Marner," those asking for "A Stretcher Named Desire" are directed to the American drama section, and anyone looking for "The Fruits of Anger" is handed a copy of "The Grapes of Wrath."
Last week's quiz: Each of the following represents a well-known phrase, motto or saying and all come from Richard Lederer's great book, A Man of My Words: To get you started and give you an idea, KDI is "crazy, mixed up kid." See how it works? 1. busines - unfinished business 2. rhutt fiction - truth is stranger than fiction 3. writiting - put it in writing 4. wa ys - parting of the ways 5. jump jump sheriff - two jumps ahead of the sheriff 6. I right I - right between the eyes 7. well enough - leave well enough alone 8. bucdropket - a drop in the bucket 9. herbuck - the buck stops here 10. timing tim ing - split-second timing And concluding our look at some of the more bizarre expressions used by news reporters ... "The astronauts are just beginning the final run-through of their chick-list ..." "The film traces the life of Jacques Cousteau, the famous French underwear explorer ..." And the final word must go to the social reporter, attending the wedding of two sports stars, who described the bride arriving at the altar carrying "bunches of Friesians." Did you know that every newsletter is archived? So if you've missed anything since 1998 or want to revisit some favourites, you can do so any time! Don't forget to bookmark the page when you get there ... or even make it your Home Page. (For Internet Explorer, just click on Tools ... Internet Options ... General ... fill in www.write101.com/archives/index.htm and click OK. For Netscape, select Edit ... Preferences. Then select Navigator from the left menu, click Home Page and enter the URL above next to Location and click OK. For all the flash new browsers, you'll have to do a search on my mate google to find what to do. There's a search box on the archives page!) If you've received this little missive from a friend, you can get your very own issue, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every Friday morning by clicking here: mailto:WritingTips-subscribe@yahoogrups.com And I'm even prepared to offer a shameless bribe. An Ape that wants to play Hamlet after being type-cast as King Kong, a talking anvil and that rottweiller ... Dr Morgenes is still caught in the nightmare that is the casting couch. Help him find a plot! Just click on the Comments button at the end of the entry to add your contribution. If you have friends who fancy themselves as writers, invite them to contribute (just forward this newsletter in its entirety to them). I often trawl this for comments to post on my site ... so if you say something about the newsletter or site, be warned, you may end up being read by one of the 2,000+ unique visitors who visit Write101 every day! Make your Mark on the World. Then stop by our Map of the World and read the messages. (Just click List) and add your mark. A Little Something Extra Some causes of confusion and how to avoid them from the Capital Community College Why we need hyphens from the Online Writing Laboratory A comprehensive list of common errors from librarian, Rachel Vidrine The Ten Most Wanted list of errors from the English Department at Acadia University, Canada Word of the week: Zeugma (n) a construction in which one word or phrase is understood to be related to two or more other words or phrases, while being grammatically consistent with only one of them; use of a word to govern two or more words though appropriate to only one e.g. "She tossed back her cloak, her hair, and a jigger of whiskey." "Mr. Pickwick took his hat and his leave." This word comes from the Greek zeugnynai meaning 'a yoking.' Oxymoron of the week: information minister This week's Latin phrase should come in handy this weekend, whether you're off to the footy or the opera! Sedilia haec, nonne praestant? [say-dee-LEE-ah HEYK NOH-nay PREYS-tahnt] (These are great seats, aren't they?) Did you know that you can have your very own Latin reminders? How about undies proclaiming, Bene est rex esse? (It's good to be king) Or a shopping bag that warns, Emptrix nata sum (Born to shop)? Kind regards, Jennifer To unsubscribe from this list, send
a blank email to: mailto:WritingTips- Copyright Jennifer Stewart 2008 Individual articles copyrighted by their authors. |
