You Cannot Be Serious, # 19

Here's a preview of an essay hosted by the subscription service MegaEssays.com:

 Link: MegaEssays.com, 'John Milton'

If you want to 'View the rest of this essay!' (exclamation marks are popular), you have to pay. In case you were wondering, the FAQ page addresses the subject of quality ―

― though it doesn't explain how a subscriber can select the paper best suited to match his or her own abilities. Not, of course, that it's an issue that would ever arise, as this FAQ shows:

 Link: MegaEssays.com, FAQs

There's also a set of Terms and Conditions devolving responsibility for the essays' usage on to the user. Indeed, the testimonials make it clear that the site's essays are intended only to offer students help in formulating their own ideas:

What isn't clear is how the stance on ethics and law ― the Plagiarism Police are watching you! ― fits with the Custom Essays service, which offers bespoke essays, at 'undergraduate' or 'graduate' level, at a cost ranging from $27 to $55 per page, depending on how quickly the material is required.*

* That's USD. The site shows an address in 'Cheyenne, USA' for queries, and the T&C page refers to 'the laws of the State of Ohio'.

Mangling Meaning, # 6

This piece from last Saturday's online Coventry Telegraph rather needed some grammar, punctuation, editing and proofreading. It's not clear whether (or how much of) the mangling is original to the quotation or as filtered by the writer…

 Link: Coventry Telegraph, 'Families furious after double yellow lines painted outside homes'

Mangling Meaning, # 5

Today's bit of balderdash has been sent in by Dr Faustus, who comments: 'It's an important article, but the sub-heading is unfortunately all over the proverbial shop.' Isn't it just!

Link: Science Recorder, 'NOAA: Artic will be free of ice…'

The title seems not to be conveying the intended message either, since the phrase 'to be free of' refers to something with a beneficial effect,* rather than something that is a problem…

* OED, free, adj., n., and adv., A.II.9.c: 'Clear of something which is regarded as objectionable or problematic. With of, from.' Cf. Merriam-Webster, free, adjective, 3.a.: 'relieved from or lacking something and especially something unpleasant or burdensome.'

Mangling Meaning, # 4

There's been much mangling of meaning by the media recently. Today's almost indecipherable example, which combines general balderdash with syntactically unviable quotations and some USA spelling, comes from last Sunday's online Telegraph:

Link: The Telegraph, 'Financial crisis caused by too many bankers taking cocaine…'