![]() “To eradicate the level of illiteracy in the state….” You can only reduce illiteracy. Second: a comma after the name to foreclose confusion because ‘coma’ in headlines represents ‘and’ most times. “British based Nigerian, Aderotimi dies enlarging her backside” First, British-based. The Guardian of February 12 circulated copious headline goofs and other gaffes as follow: “Gowon advocates revival of education sector” Sound literacy: educational sector. “Promoting values based leadership” Leadership initiative: just as corrected above. ![]() “Ministry drafts health officials to cholera infested areas” (SATURDAY TRIBUNE Headline, February 16) Community News: hyphenation (cholera-infested areas) makes a lot of difference in lexis and structure. “I said there is no more monolithic north” (Tribune CHURCH On Sunday, February 24) A rewrite: I said there was no more monolithic north. “Atiku overated himself” (TheNEWS Headline, February 14) Spell-check: overrated. “UI Lagos alumni restructures” (THE PUNCH Headline, February 14) Alumni (plural) restructure or alumni association restructures. “Obasanjo, Saraki, Atiku condole victims’ families” Either condole with or simply console. “Post conviction bail only granted under exceptional circumstances” An all-time critical element: Post-conviction bail… The Guardian of February 16 equally jumped on the bandwagon of headline slovenliness on two embarrassing occasions: “PENGASSAN is not aversed to PIB, says Ogun” I am averse to ubiquitous headline gaffes. Credit: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, 6th Edition, for advanced learners. “A money bag (sic) threw some wads of naira notes into the air….” Atiku’s political campaign tragedy: A ‘money-bags’ (not ‘moneybag’) (singular) is someone who has a lot of money-used humorously. “Relocation of varsity: Only 2 people die in protest -Police” Tense characterisation of headlines notwithstanding, only 2 persons (not people-even without being a lexicologist!) died (not die, contextually) in protest. The next three headline blunders are from Vanguard of February 15: “New Edo lawmaker sworn-in” Phrasal verbs (stave off, swear in) abhor hyphenation. BUSINESSDAY WEEKEND of February 8 gave readers a paragraph they should distrust: “Electricity sector stakeholders and consumers have hit back at the Federal Government’s claim that the nation’s electricity generating capacity has reached 4,000 megawatts, saying the claim was false and that generation has indeed nosedived to less (sic) 3,600 megawatts.” Even without being professorially numerical, the reality here is that reduction from 4,000 to 3,600 can never be a nosedive-it is only a slight drop! Let us avoid malapropism, especially when a Diageo Africa Financial Newspaper of the Year is involved.įor the reader that sought the meaning of ‘sic’ via SMS: It is an adverb that means “thus (added in brackets after a word or expression in a quotation which looks wrong or absurd, to show that it has been quoted correctly).” Source: The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of The English Language.įrom THE NATION ON SUNDAY of February 10 comes the next notoriety: “Five arrested over registration malpractice” I will not arrest the editor for (not over) this solecism! The daily edition of Tuesday, February 15, also fell into the same ditch: “Eight arrested in Ibadan over food poisoning scare”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |