Another BBC website headline that interests me: 
There’s nothing actually wrong with it, of course. It heads a story that starts:
Serial killer franchise Saw has been named the most successful horror movie series by the Guinness World Records.
But the phrasing demonstrates the problems of trying to write headlines that fit into a measured space on a web page (or printed page, for that matter.)
Continue reading “see saw”
From the BBC website, this headline catches my eye:
Four women have set a new record by becoming the first women to row non-stop around Britain, organisers say.
Under the headline Dolphin ‘superpod’ seen by wildlife spotters off Skye, the BBC start a story with this slightly disconcerting lede:
A group of wildlife spotters have encountered a massive pod of dolphins on a boat trip off the north coast of Skye.
I guess even dolphins must get tired of swimming sometimes.
One of the joys of speaking two languages is that you get far more opportunities for puns than monolinguists do.
It was with delight, then – and with a language hiccough mid-way – that I saw the following on the El País website earlier today: 
The word verse flipped my mind into English and conjured the wonderful image of Obama and McChrystal having a flyting contest.
I think I’ve been insulted. I went down to buy the paper in the local shop this morning and bought The Observer and the Woman’s Weekly Fiction Special, as shown in the photo.
Yes, it’s true, I read women’s magazine fiction. It’s light – actual weight-wise, not simply ‘light reading’, it comes in a disposable format, and it’s particularly suitable for travel reading. (I also like to know what’s being published these days, in case I feel inspired to turn my hand to fiction.)
But it’s not the only thing I read.
Continue reading “his ‘n’ yours”
don't confuse the narrator 