Mangling English: an occasional rant

Businesses that don't bother checking their websites, journalists who write gibberish and balderdash, professionals who can't take the extra time and effort to spell-check and proofread, newspapers that turn tragedy into farce through solecisms, plus the odd guide to solving common grammatical difficulties… Contributions and suggestions welcome. (… Also corrections if required, obviously!) Send to: manglingenglishATgmxDOTcom, stating your nom de mangle (if desired).

Showing posts with label figures & numerals. Show all posts

Wednesday, 13 January 2016

Double-take, # 209

This comes from Mo Juste:

Link: Northampton Chronicle & Echo, ‘Historic tree stolen […]’

He comments: ‘The tree, apparently, has a circumference of 4 feet, which would make it about 15 inches in diameter. Accordingly this would mean the front door in the photograph must be about 6 inches wide.’

mathematical mangle: circumference of 4 feet = about 15 inches in diameter = front door must be about 6 inches wide

Sunday, 2 August 2015

Double-take, # 173

Received from Unitemps by Dr Faustus, and not mangling English so much as mangling in English. It certainly seems confused about how to express times, or at least how to express them consistently: