The Engine Room

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Bugbears: SVO,O,+VO
2007-10-10 17:22:00
Taken from a recent BBC News technology story (which appears to have been taken down, but you can still Google this phrase if you don't believe me):A gadget for the blind reads labels, audio books and plays music.I see this type of sentence construction a lot, even from professional journalists, and I believe that most people don't have any problem with it. But I do.This gadget reads labels and plays music, but what does it do with audio books? 'Read them', I hear you say. But, except as a headline, you would never write:A gadget for the blind reads labels, audio books.Instead you would write:A gadget for the blind reads labels and audio books.This suggests the original construction needs another 'and'. Giving you:A gadget for the blind reads labels and audio books, and plays music.I suppose the comma is optional, but it helps indicate a change of verb is coming.
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Spelling can be (pomer)grate
2007-10-09 10:24:00
My local Sainsbury's supermarket is currently selling a type of fruit called, according to the printed labelling, a 'pomergrate'. I can only assume that it's like a pomegranate, only better.Just a shame the pomergrates aren't pomergratis...And no, they aren't part of the SO RAS range.They're grate...
More About: Spelling , Spell

Impossible quiz question
2007-10-08 11:52:00
Found in the book Total Trivia: Over 2,000 Zany Quiz Question s:Q. What percentage of British Engineers, to the nearest five, are women?A. Two and a half per cent.Umm...
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Recent gems
2007-10-05 18:55:00
Jut to end a long working week on a high note, here are a few gems that have oozed under the engine room door:"But now motor insurance readers last week agreed" "The company began in humble beginnings" "This agreement is expected to result in 5,000 units being produced annually per year" "In a statement the company says" And they wonder why JD and I sometimes growl at our charges.Right that's it; my turn to hide in Spain for a week. Hasta la vista! (what does that mean, anyway?)
More About: Recent , Gems

Headlines: children job seekers
2007-10-05 16:51:00
A couple of dodgy headlines today. The first, from yesterday's Daily Mail (October 4):Agony of the children job seekers leave in RomaniaThe first time I read this, I wondered who these children job seekers were, and why the headline didn't appear to make grammatical sense. Of course, the Daily Mail has elided a 'that' between 'children' and 'job', presumably for reasons of space. Very confusing.And Gingerous sent in the following headline from the BBC News website:Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has been involved in a car accident with a 10-year-old boyHe asks: "Why was a 10-year-old driving a car?"Wikipedia says that "sometimes a 'car accident' may refer to an automobile striking a human or animal" but I agree that it's not the most common use of the phrase. It does have the benefit of not implying that Gerrard was to blame, unlike a lot of alternative phrases.
More About: Children , Headlines

The Engine Room: a mystery explained
2007-10-04 13:44:00
You may be wondering why sometimes Apus and I refer to 'the engine room' (no caps) and sometimes to 'the Engine Room ' (initial caps). After all, it's not like subs to be so inconsistent, is it?Well, Apus and I work for the production desk of a particular publication. Long before I joined the publication, Apus had developed the habit of referring to the production desk as the engine room of the magazine, for obvious reasons. I picked this habit up from him, and when we came to start the blog, it seemed the perfect name.So when we refer to 'the engine room', we mean the production desk on our magazine; when we refer to 'the Engine Room', we mean the blog you are reading. Of course, you may ask why we don't cap up the 'the'...
More About: Mystery , Laine , Myst

Australian business-speak
2007-10-03 14:17:00
It looks like business-speak isn't limited to the US and the UK: Roz has written in with some examples heard during a one-hour 'Dialogue Day' session at the Australian Taxation Office. Here they are, with Roz's comments in brackets.Key driversKey deliverablesKey strategies (why can't they use some synonyms for 'key'?)...sessions around delivery plans (whatever happened to 'about' or 'regarding' or 'concerning'?)At the end of the dayCascade down corporate messages (well, cascades don't often go up do they?)Efficiencies made to business (how do you 'make' an efficiency?)Big ticket itemCo-design sessionImpacting on all the messages out thereHip pocketValue-addingA deliberate service model (what – as opposed to an accidental one?)Sophisticated profiling and riskLevel playing fieldThe tax agent community (yeah, there's probably an axe-murdering community too. Everything has a community these days)Principles-basedPenalty 'safe-harbour'Grass-roots issuesBase tenants (I...
More About: Business , Speak , Sine

Spanish: dos servicios
2007-10-02 14:16:00
Biggest language blunder while on holiday in Spain: confusing 'dos cervezas' with 'dos servicios' – yes, I went into a bar and asked for two toilets instead of two beers.I then compounded my error: attributing the barman's look of confusion to my poor Spanish accent, I repeated my request several times, each time slightly more loudly and clearly.I never did get my 'dos servicios'.Two please – large onesIt's just fortunate that, before I left the UK for Spain, one of our reporters took me aside and warned me not to confuse 'pollo' with 'polla'...
More About: Nish

Blog update
2007-10-01 13:47:00
I'm back from my holiday now, so thanks to Gingerous for uploading my posts for me.The blog has gone from strength to strength in my absence: last week was our busiest ever, in terms of both hits and visitors. Partly this is due to another good mention on BuzzFeed – this time it was Apus' post on the OED dropping hyphens that hit the limelight.We've also had a fair smattering of blog cross-pollination: see this post on Villa Grammatica, or this one on Roadput.com. Although who jessihempel is, I don't know.My next task is to persuade Apus to install Firefox so he can put pictures on his blog posts (at the moment he is posting solely through the power of righteous indignation).
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Verbing: how to social network
2007-09-28 18:41:00
Recently I spotted an unusual, if ugly, example of verbing (creating a verb from another part of speech) on the front page of the Independent: "How to social network"This is interesting because 'network' is already commonly both a noun and a verb; what the Independent has verbed is the entire noun phrase 'social network'. (Compare with 'how to socially network'.)I suspect the Independent has verbed the noun phrase because of severe space limitations on the cover – otherwise it may have preferred something along the lines of 'guide to social networking' or 'how to use social networks'.Hmm, I can't find any reference to 'how to social network' on the Independent Online, but here's someone else using the phrase (good article too).
More About: Social , Network , Social Network , Bing

Great Wall Wingle
2007-09-27 14:37:00
Unfortunate vehicle name of the month: a Chinese pickup called the Great Wall Wingle.The 'Great Wall ' part is the name of the manufacturer; 'Wingle' is a portmanteau of 'wind' and 'eagle'.The manufacturer's website says the "Great Wall Wingle is just like a brave and fierce lion from the appearance" - as I am sure you can see from the picture.

Feeling tense(s): launch of a new product
2007-09-27 13:57:00
All the subs I know have grown used to writers reporting "the launch of a new product" and, until they become worn down and cynical, have taken the time to explain (gently or not) to the writers concerned that if it ain't new you can't launch it.All the writers for the magazine whose engine room JD and I inhabit (and why doesn't 'which' have a possessive form, by the way?) have been lectured on this silly redundancy. But bless 'em, they can't resist it – the latest example arrived today, fresh from the keyboard of our generally admirable editor.Will I explain it to him again? Will I remind our charges yet again that "making plans for the future" also contains a redundancy as you can't easily make plans for the past?JD certainly would, but he's half my age and has yet to become as worn down and cynical as me (but you will, chum... you will).
More About: Product , Launch , Feeling

More hyphenation frolics
2007-09-26 17:32:00
Following my recent mention of hyphens, a story by the most senior writer in our care rams homes the importance of these often confusing punctuation marks.Referring to a campaign group that was active in our industry some years ago, he revealed that it is to reform. I duly asked him for details of this reformation so we could enlighten our readers. No, he said, it isn't being reorganised; the group had actually closed down and is to be relaunched or, as he intended to write, it is to re-form.So remember, a humble hyphen can change the meaning of an entire sentence.

History's greatest sub-editors: Alan Eaglesfield
2007-09-26 15:17:00
Interesting find on Wikipedia.Gravelly Hill Interchange - Junction 6 of the M6 here in the UK - is better known as Spaghetti Junction. There are several Spaghetti Junctions around the world, from Florida to Melbourne, but Gravelly Hill is the original. Incidentally it was voted as the favourite landmark of frequent motorists in a recent RAC survey.But who was it that first coined the nickname 'Spaghetti Junction'? Alan Eaglesfield, sub-editor (copy editor if you will) on the Birmingham Evening Mail in the 1970s when the interchange opened.Mr Eaglesfield, as one sub to another, I salute you.
More About: Editors , Greatest

Not averse to verbing
2007-09-25 14:45:00
One of our charges has a habit of 'verbing' – using a noun as a verb. We don't object on principle; after all no one objects to gerunds, which are verb participles used as nouns. Recent examples dropping into the engine room include the eye-watering 'professionalising' and the less painful 'depolluting', both of which took the place of relatively clumsy clauses.But just to keep us on our toes, yesterday the same writer came up with "a view with which we would confer".Writers. Can't leave with 'em; not allowed to bury them under the patio.
More About: Bing

Careers service bloopers
2007-09-25 14:22:00
We recently received the following email from an individual who wishes to remain anonymous.My colleagues and I in the careers service were thinking we should start a book of all the funny mangled English we get from the foreign students in interviews and on CVs. One girl replied to the question "Why do you want to be an accountant?" with the answer "because my mother did an accountant". I suspect she meant because her mother is/was an accountant – but maybe not?! Quite how the interviewer kept a straight face I have no idea.There's also one hilarious Chinese guy who always puts on his CV/covering letter that he wants to join companies to "make many friends" and that he is "very popular"...quite why he thinks this is such an important point to make to an investment bank I have no idea. We really don't stand a chance of finding some of them jobs!
More About: Careers , Service , Bloopers , Loop , Blooper

Compare to or compare with?
2007-09-24 18:03:00
The engine room is not here to teach English but I really, really wish the writers in our care would get the message that there's a rule governing the preposition that follows the word "compare", and it's this: if you're comparing two things to show that they are similar you say "compare to". If you're comparing two things to show they differ you say "compare with".The usual reference for this one is Shakespeare's phrase: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day".It's easy. But after repeated reminders some of our charges simply can't get their heads round it. Anyway, I do feel better for getting it off my chest – which is what this blog is really about... stress relief for knackered subs!
More About: Compare , Pare

Bread-making factory
2007-08-29 12:33:00
A recent news story by one of our writers made reference to a "bread-making factory". My first thought as a sub was to change this to 'bakery', but before I did so I checked with the writer who had submitted the story.His reasoning behind using 'bread-making factory' rather than 'bakery' was that 'bakery' might make readers think of a shop rather than a large manufacturing operation ? a high-street baker's, perhaps.An interesting point, but Apus made an executive decision and we went with 'bakery'. Not before he had pointed out that 'bread factory' would have been pithier than 'bread-making factory' in any case...Googling "bread-making factory" does throw up some hits from UK sites, so it's obviously a dilemma other subs have faced. The Telegraph & Argus hedged its bets and used both....
More About: Factory , Bread , Tory , Actor , Makin

Daily Mail and the typist's sore thumb
2007-08-28 15:02:00
An interesting example of a national newspaper twisting the truth today.In its front page standfirst, the Daily Mail is outraged over a severely injured paratrooper getting only "a fraction of the £1/2m given to an RAF typist with a sore thumb". While the paper may have a strong argument, it lets itself down by using the phrase "sore thumb".The woman in question, who was only in her 20s, actually developed a permanent repetitive strain injury (RSI) which left her unlikely ever to be able to return to full or part-time work. She also developed associated depression. A bit worse than "a sore thumb"...Oh, one more thing. The typist's award included unspecified legal costs - so I don't know how much of that £1/2m was even compensation.I also note that the Daily Mail 's online version of the story uses the phrase "typing injury" instead of "sore thumb" - a little more accurate, but hardly conveying the full truth.
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Word of the day: rexy
2007-08-27 20:28:00
I came across a nice portmanteau word today: rexy. It's a blend of 'anorexic' and 'sexy', used to describe the kind of heroin chic look championed by model Kate Moss (pictured).Interestingly, the word seems to be a fairly recent coining by Kate Moss herself - one for the South London Massive then. Or rather, not massive, but alarmingly underweight...Appears to be primarily an adjective but also a noun (as in, 'what a bunch of rexies').
More About: Word , Word of the Day , The D

Machiavellian, draconian and quixotic
2007-08-24 14:58:00
A bit of a puzzler today.The adjective 'Mach iavellian' (meaning "cunning, scheming and unscrupulous, especially in politics or business", OED) is derived from the name of the Italian statesman and writer Machiavelli (1469-1527) - the chap pictured on the left.Similarly the adjective 'draconian' (meaning "(of laws) excessively harsh and severe", OED) is also derived from the name of an individual - in this instance the ancient Athenian legislator Draco.So why is it that Machiavellian takes an upper-case 'M' but draconian doesn't take an upper-case 'D'?I tried to think of some other examples to see which camp they fell in but didn't get much past 'quixotic' - which is derived from the name of a fictional character anyway. Obviously I am discounting adjectives such as Jacobean because they relate to the individual's life and times rather than their personal qualities. Anyone help?
More About: Chia , Draconian

PR speak
2007-08-23 18:32:00
Spotted in a press release by one of the writers in our care before it reached the engine room: "Vehicle maintenance can be a headache for small businessmen and women." Funny, you'd think vertically challenged businessmen, or women, would be less likely to bang their heads when crawling beneath vehicles than their taller colleagues.The PR person responsible for this howler can almost be forgiven ? if a business is run by a businessman (or woman) then a small business...What's more worrying to those of us trying to hold the line against a tide of sloppy usage is that the release came from a large company, which presumably employs large PR people, and certainly has a large PR team. Someone should have noticed.But spare a thought for the PR person, of whatever size, who sent in a release from an oil company which described the author of a report as the "heavy duty marketing manager". Yes, it's logical that the person in charge of marketing lubrication products for heavy-duty vehicle...
More About: Speak

All too easy to miss
2007-08-23 15:51:00
A story that dropped in through the engine room hatch today concerned the funding of two industry sectors and concluded that "...one shouldn't be penalised at the expense of the other."JD and I had both seen it; so had two of our magazine's writers. And just as he was about to pass the page JD mooched over and asked: "What do you think of this phrase?" Knowing he wouldn't ask such a question unless there was something amiss I read it, read it again, and finally the penny dropped ? the phrase was glib, but gibberish. It was duly modified to read "...one shouldn't be subsidised by the other."Remember this phrase had been written by a pro and read by four people. It goes to show that an extra read is never wasted!
More About: Miss , Easy

Some other language blogs
2007-08-23 13:52:00
Today we have some other language-related blogs you might want to look at.Firstly, Apostrophe Abuse, which is a photo blog recording inappropriate apostrophes. Or, should I say, apostrophe's.Secondly, Literally, a Web Log, a blog dedicated to tracking down misuse of the word 'literally'. It's something that literally makes me pull my hair out in frustration. Or do I mean metaphorically?Thirdly, The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks. Again, lots of photos ? this time of "unnecessary" quotation marks in signs and so on.
More About: Blogs , Language , Some

Moments from death in McDonald's
2007-08-22 14:22:00
Today I'm continuing with the food theme - perhaps I shouldn't always blog around lunchtime! I spotted this story in the Daily Mirror recently:A man with a serious food allergy is suing McDonald's for £5m after he was given a cheeseburger instead of a hamburger. Jeremy Jackson... suffered a severe reaction to the cheese... and "was only moments from death" or serious injury by the time he reached the hospital.Jackson, 20, from West Virginia, made it known to staff five times that he could not eat cheese because of his condition.I can just imagine this. Jeremy goes into his local McDonald's and tells the person behind the counter five times that he can't eat cheese: "Give me a BURGER... but with no CHEESE... don't give me CHEESE... I can't eat a CHEESEBURGER, I have an allergy to CHEESE. So that's a BURGER, no CHEESE please."The McDonald's staff hear 'cheese' and 'burger' and that's what Jeremy is given. He would have done better not to mention the cheese thing at all. ...
More About: Death , Moments

Typo of the week: very fast food
2007-08-21 14:00:00
The pub near to the office where Apus and I work is selling an all-day breakfast that includes "fired eggs". I presume they launch them at you from some sort of shell-firing cannon.
More About: Food , Fast Food , Week , Fast , Typo

A rubber by any other name...
2007-08-20 18:20:00
The magazine whose engine room JD and I inhabit is part of an international company which has just appointed a senior exec to look after purchasing. Which would be a big 'so what?' were it not that the lady in question is an American.No, this is not going to be an anti-American rant, it's just that she might have some problems when handling stationery orders from the UK and our colleagues Down Under.For example, a Brit might ask for rubbers, which is the accepted Stateside usage for condoms. Once that's sorted out and she's realised we actually want erasers the good lady might well have a request from the Aussies for sticky tape. No problem, unless she asks them if they want Sellotape which, in Ozspeak, is a brand of condom.It could be an interesting learning curve in the upper echelons of international purchasing.
More About: Rubber

Word of the day: rowdyism
2007-08-20 13:44:00
Today's word of the day comes from a story in one of my local papers, the Wandsworth Guardian:The Asparagus pub in Battersea is to add between 10p and 15p per unit to the cost of its drinks, in response to "rowdyism" complaints from Latchmere residents'Rowdyism'? As far as I was aware, the noun from 'rowdy' was 'rowdiness' - but no, the OED lists both 'rowdiness' and 'rowdyism'. However the former is four times more common than the latter, according to a Google search. (Incidentally, the Asparagus pub story comes up as high as fourth in a Google search of 'rowdyism'...)Anyway, my question is: any difference between rowdiness and rowdyism?Alcohol: may lead to rowdyism(or even to rowdiness)
More About: Word , Word of the Day , The D

Write route; rout's wrong
2007-08-17 19:58:00
If writers could spell JD and I would have little to blog about, but is it too much to expect civil servants to have at least a basic grasp of english? A press release just in from the Department for Transport (a multi-million-pound rebranding of the Department of Transport... don't get me started!) refers to the rout of a major road. Following a battle, there could indeed be a rout along a major road, although the road itself could hardly be said to have joined the rout. A joiner might even rout the edges of wooden signposts along the road. But if they mean route, why not write route? And on the subject of civil servants' shortcomings, did you know there's a committee with wide powers over transport in case of emergencies? Fair enough... but because it sometimes meets in Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, it is known as COBRA. Remember, this name was, presumably, selected by the same senior civil servants who are entrusted with our safety following a national disaster. Someone ough...
More About: Write , Route , Wrong

Feeling tense?
2007-08-16 17:25:00
The writers in our care do come up with some eye-crosssing phrases ? today's input included "a figure that still stands in perpetuity". The more you look at it, the better it gets.
More About: Feeling