Double-take, # 98

Pop Spencer has sent in another oddly-phrased headline:

Link: Northampton Chronicle and Echo, ‘One in five […]

He commented: ‘When I saw this headline my first thought was that the patients had been slapped around a bit, or taken out to the pub. Anything but what was expected. Or am I wrong?’

patients not treated as expected within 62 days of diagnosis

Double-take, # 97

Dr Faustus submitted this mangle —

Link: The Past Speaks blog, ‘Perspectives on the Evolution of States, Markets, and Economic Culture’

— with the comment: ‘Well, is it or isn’t it?’ It’s a fair point and I think we should be plainly told.

Two sentences later, I was surprised to learn that the length of the US states is relevant in politics…

Since the entry has been provided specifically ‘for the benefit of […] Canadian readers’, perhaps the term ‘blank cheque’, with its UK spelling, isn’t the most helpful analogy. Or is it?
is isn’t; written constitutions, unlike US states, some of which are very lengthy; ‘blank cheque’ [for Canadian readers?]

The Wrong Word Entirely, # 55

Surely one of the most mangled sentences in the history of journalism — and that’s before the climactic and archaic gerund:

Link: The Telegraph, ‘Judge condemns Crown Prosecution Service for pursuing sex case’

grinded; ‘spooning’

Double-take, # 96

From Des Pond of Slough from yesterday’s BBC News website:

The subheading failed to improve matters — rather the reverse, in fact:

As Des says: ‘What does “anniversary” mean?’ Someone at the Beeb noticed or was told, as both mangles had been corrected by 9.35am, but they should never have been there at all.
six-month anniversary

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 144

Not sure where Dr Faustus found this, but it seems to be someone’s official documentation:

If you go to position 5.26 on this YouTube compilation from It’ll Be Alright [sic] on the Night, you can see Paul Hogan being similarly challenged by the word…

larger for lager

Double-take, # 95

(Confusing) information for tourists:

Link: ChampsElysees-Paris,.com, Le Drugstore Publicis

Grocery… is what closes the drugstore

Spellchecking Is Never Enough, # 143

These are the opening two paragraphs from a MailOnline report:

Link: MailOnline: ‘Teenage girl, 18, racks up £1,158 phone bill […]’

The the horror of her mother

Double-take, # 94

This mangle results from modern technological methods — a technomangle, perhaps — since it’s a direct consequence of the longer headlines facilitated by internet publishing. I had planned to post the report to my Facebook stream, but then I noticed what happened to the headline on the preview and decided it deserved a space here:

Link: The Independent, ‘Half of young women unable to “locate vagina” and 65% find it difficult to say the word’

Half of young women unable to ‘locate vagina’ and 65% find it

Adjectival Confusion, # 3

This piece of news (reproduced here from the Independent’s website, which is showing a video clip from London Live showing a headline from the Mail Online) is all over the media at the moment, together with its bizarre phrasing:

Link: The Independent, ‘Hacker leaks “nude photos of celebrities” — London Live’

Photographs of nude celebrities might justly cause consternation, but what is a ‘nude photo’?

nude photos of celebrities

Not Washed or Cooked, # 166

Des Pond of Slough found today’s mangle on this year’s Heritage Open Days webpages. Presumably, it exactly reproduces material supplied by the venue, which is odd since this is a word much used in the theatre:

Link: Heritage Open Days, Royal and Derngate Theatres

rehersal

Singular or Plural? # 11

The reversal of the standard subject—verb order, coupled with the lengthy subordinate clause, may have confused matters in this sentence, whose main subject and verb do not agree:

George Ritzer, ‘Introduction’ to Jean Baudrillard, The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures, trans. by Chris Turner (London, Thousand Oaks & New Delhi: Sage, 1998), p. 16. Link: GoogleBooks

Within his body of thought on consumption […] is Baudrillard’s ideas

Not Washed or Cooked, # 165

Dr Faustus spotted this mangle on the BBC’s news ticker at the beginning of last month. It shouldn’t be a surprise, since this is how everyone seems to pronounce the word these days (rhyming with fleece, of course, not with lice):

The same mangle was tweeted by BBC Breaking News.
plice