The Engine Room A blog about language use, misuse and abuse, brought to you by two sub-editors (copy editors) on a weekly magazine. If you have questions about words, grammar, spelling etc, why not ask us? Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 0 0 4516

Articles from The Engine Room

Malapropisms: execrators 2008-01-24 05:26:00 Roz has emailed us the following job advert which contains a "lovely malapropism":Opportunities exist for skilled people to undertake roles within the Mining industry in Regional WA. Our company is currently seeking individuals who have the following abilities: Machine operation tickets such as Dump Trucks, Execrators, 992 Loaders, Drills Graders, Dozers and Water Karts with 6 wheels and also able to undertake a Manager or Supervisory role.Roz adds: "For much of the day thereafter, I daydreamed about what it would be like to actually be paid for cursing mine sites..."(We seem to be having a glut of malapropisms recently. For anyone not in the know, a malapropism is "the mistaken use of a word in place of a similar-sounding one" (OED). The term itself comes from the character Mrs Malaprop in an 18th-century play. Hence the title of Apus' blog post the other day...) ...

Prehistoric giant salamander! 2008-01-23 07:44:00 Free London paper Metro recently published an article about the Zoological Society of London's Edge project – which seeks to protect 'evolutionary distinct and globally endangered' species.The print version of the story carried the following caption (you'll have to imagine the pictures here, I'm afraid):Freak show: Some of the creatures on the Edge list – the olm (top), a blind amphibian which hunts using electric pulses; the Chinese giant salamander, a pre-historic creature (left); Darwin's frog (below left); and the Gardiner's Seychelles frog, which is smaller than a fingernailDisregarding the hyphen, why refer to the giant salamander as prehistoric? The OED says 'prehistoric' is "of or relating to prehistory", 'prehistory' being "the period of time before written records". So this particular species predates writing – which has been with us for around 5,000 years. In evolutionary terms, that's not long at all.The OED does give a second definition of prehistoric: " ...

Here's to Mrs Malaprop! 2008-01-22 10:26:00 Following JD's reference to a Dutch correspondent's use of "exceedings", here's a malapropism that made me smile from an English writer who should know better:It’s led to a shortage of 12 to 36-month-old vehicles, exasperated by people holding on to them.Yes, of course the author meant "exacerbated", but as written doesn't this sentence paint a wonderful picture of exasperated vehicles desperate to find new homes? ...

Noise exceedings 2008-01-21 03:48:00 One of our regular contributors is a Dutch writer who certainly speaks English much better than I will ever speak Dutch. However English not being his native language he occasionally employs an unusual – albeit charming – turn of phrase. Recently, in a piece about a trial of noise-reducing technology, he wrote:no more than five complaints on noise exceedings followedI think that is just lovely. "Don't make any noise exceedings, you'll disturb the neighbours..." ...

Palm visible on Google Earth shock 2008-01-18 08:30:00 Today I was planning to write about a BBC News story on a species of giant palm recently discovered in Madagascar. The reason I chose this particular story was because it described the palm as being 'so large it could be seen by satellite', or something to that effect. Odd, because I know you can see quite small things by satellite – certainly things much smaller than a reasonably sized palm.However, when I went back to the BBC News site to check the story today, I found that the offending copy had been rewritten to remove any mention of satellites. Just when I was thinking that I would have to come up with a new subject to write about, I spotted that one of the captions read:The palm is said to be so big it can be seen on Google EarthBrilliant! I have three problems with this. Firstly, I've checked on Google Earth and it is quite possible to make out the sunroof on the car parked outside my flat – not a very large object at all. Admittedly the satellite coverage of Madagascar m ... Google

Plain English Guide: tautologies 2008-01-17 07:35:00 A regular Engine Room reader who has asked to remain anonymous has emailed me a local government 'Plain English Guide'. At 27 pages, it is perhaps a little long-winded but then again it is still shorter than the style guide and glossary of the magazine that I work for.I was particularly struck by its list of tautologies (or as the guide says, "words that mean the same thing"). It includes:free giftnew innovationpair of twinspast historyvast majoritybrief momentcircle roundjoin togetherrepeated againmutual co-operationwhether or nota dead corpseadded bonusrevert backfuture prospectsearly beginningsunite togetherNow, I'm not sure that quite all of these are actually tautologous. 'Vast majority', for example – it is possible for a political party to have a slim majority, so I don't have a problem with vast majority either. What do you reckon?And on another note, I remember a (former) member of the news desk here who was convinced it was incorrect to use the word 'whether' withou ...

Derren Brown: tricks of the page 2008-01-16 09:23:00 I'm currently reading the surprisingly well written and interesting book Tricks of the Mind by British magician and mentalist Derren Brown. At one point in the book, Brown confesses he is:...never one to arrive at an acumen regarding a set of printed pages bound along one side, based purely upon my discernment of its sheathing, ho hoIgnoring for the moment the interesting use of the word 'acumen', my question to you is: what on earth is he talking about? I'll post the answer tomorrow, although I'll doubt you'll need it. ...

Typo of the week: ethic minorities 2008-01-15 09:34:00 Yes, you did read that post title correctly: today is press day on our publication and we almost let through the clanger 'ethic minorities'. Not only that but it appeared twice in the same news story.Fortunately for the subs, one of our eagle-eyed proofreaders spotted the mistake."Do ethic minorities come from Ethics?" I asked him. Unusually, he not only got my joke but laughed at it."Never mind the missing 'n', we should just drop the 'e'," he then said. So of course I told him not to be ethicist.Words, eh? ...

Word of the day: invacuation 2008-01-14 08:09:00 Here's an email from Gareth regarding a great work-related portmanteau he has encountered:Alarming signs have recently gone up in our office informing us of the procedures we need to follow in the event of an Invacuation.An Invacuation – presumably the unloved offspring of the words "evacuation"and, erm, "in" – apparently involves workers sheltering within their office building rather than being kicked out onto the streets to fend for themselves. In our state-of-the-art Canary Wharf tower, that basically means hiding in the stairwells until it's safe to come out again, and is designed principally as the process to be followed in the event of a terrorist attack. None of this, sadly, is clear from the signs, which seem to have led to general confusion.This raises two points. Firstly, I don't care what you've called your new emergency procedure: if someone attacks my workplace then I want to get as far away from there as possible, not huddle in a stairwell. Secondly, how safe can ...

Mariah Carey: not a diva 2008-01-11 03:20:00 Free London paper Metro included an interesting quote from singer Mariah Carey the other day:"I don't believe I'm truly nasty. I've never done one diva-ish thing in my life," she said. "The definition of a diva is a woman who sings well."Um, right. So a diva sings well, but Mariah has never done one diva-ish thing, so logic would suggest that Mariah has never sung well...(And I was going to link the same Metro article online but it appears to have been taken down. Wonder why?)Mariah: Sofa, so good ...

Georgia is a hoe! 2008-01-09 08:17:00 I recently spotted a great piece of graffiti near my flat. It read:Georgia is a hoe!I was going to take a picture – by the time I went back, the final word had been erased. I'm presuming that Georgia herself did this, but whether it was because she is a stickler for spelling or because she took offence at being called a garden implement is beyond me...And I did consider making a joke around the phrase 'calling a spade a spade' – but decided not. ...

Just for fun 2008-01-08 10:13:00 Many of our blogs rely on the shortcoming of the writers in our care but JD and I are also blessed with some competent wordsmiths, one of whom takes delight in inserting phrases that might not be lucid, but make us smile. F'rinstance:"It must seek out a partner that can operate in a manner empathetic to the Swedish manufacturer's verticalised predilections.""You'd expect a truck manufacturer to capture visual harmony across its range but getting analogous driving characteristics is surely a step too far.""Anyone want raspberries with their bowl of cognitive dissonance?" Yes, I know... we should be stamping out this kind of playful language in a hard-nosed business magazine, but it's good to see a writer having fun. ...

Lovestruck by an emu 2008-01-08 08:39:00 Free London paper thelondonpaper runs a regular column called 'Lovestruck', in which readers can write in with a short message declaring their interest in a stranger or near-stranger they've seen on a bus/met on the tube/drooled over while drunk.As you can imagine, many of the messages reek of desperation and yesterday's column contained a particularly fine example:To Alison, the long-legged emu-like girl I met in the Hampstead lido. You're gorgeous. Glass of wine? ANON.I really hope there is more of a story behind this one, because I think calling any girl 'emu-like' is likely to backfire. No wonder Anon didn't manage to get her number when he met her in the lido (although to be fair, not many people keep a pen and paper or even a mobile phone inside their trunks...)See Lovestruck online...What a tasty bird ...

Intent if not determined to 2008-01-07 09:42:00 Just came across this sentence in some copy I was subbing for an opinion piece. To put it in context, the writer had been talking about emissions controls across the EU.Up to 80% of the rest of the populated world not only couldn’t care less [about emissions levels], they are intent if not determined to massively increase uncontrolled pollutionUm, right. Firstly, I just don't believe this is true. Certain countries may not care a great deal about limiting pollution compared to, say, boosting the economy or increasing industrial output, but that's very different to being "determined to massively increase pollution". However I'll put that aside, seeing as it is taken from an opinion piece not a news story.Secondly, where does the figure of 'up to 80%' come from? I haven't quoted the relevant passage but the writer goes on to list China, Russia, India, South America, the Middle East, the US and Africa as some of the main culprits making up that 80%. And it leaves just 20% of the w ...

Short and sweet 2008-01-04 10:29:00 Some of the writers in our care delight in using long phrases for no clear reason; JD and I take equal delight in cutting them back. Here are some recent examples:An increase in overall vehicle length would enable significant volume carrying capacity to be achieved (= longer trucks have more room)Larger in size (= bigger)In a much shorter time frame (= sooner)... and here's a spelling mistale that brings a gloriously surreal image to mind: "The lights are controlled by the steering column storks." ...