MC isn’t Master of Ceremony; he’s Master of ‘Ceremonies’
We’ll not expose the “culprit”, so suffice to say that a certain scribbler, in his story about a famous broadcaster who died, purports to quote a big government official, and this is what he writes:
“We are saddened by his demise…We all saw him taking the role of MASTER OF CEREMONY during the burial ceremony of his boss…”Master of Ceremony? Nope! And we happen to have corrected this one before, but since the goof keeps reappearing in our esteemed Bongo English press and conversations elsewhere, let’s talk about it again.
By an MC, if we ‘re talking about a person who presides over a formal event or entertainment and who introduces guests, speakers or entertainers –then, this person, in full, is a Master of Ceremonies (not Ceremony). Yes, you call him that, even as you witness him presiding over one particular event!
The Sat, Mar 9 edition of Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet has a story on Page 4 entitled, ‘Third accused forged bus ticket , witness testifies’, and therein, the scribbler reports in Para 7:
“A government chemist …conducted DNA tests and …found blood stains that matched those of the accused who was facing a murder CHARGE OFFENCE.” The word “offence” here is absolutely unnecessary. We just need to say MURDER CHARGE.
Come Sat, Mar 9, and the tabloid closely associated with this columnist had a story on Page 3 headlined, ‘All set for leadership forum on Nyerere legacy launch’. For his intro, the scribbler writes:
“Prior to the launch of the Mwalimu Nyerere Leadership Forum, the organisers and planners paid a visit yesterday to the WIFE of the founding Father of the Nation, Mama Maria Nyerere in the city.”
It embarrasses us to have to remind one of our own that when a man dies, even when he’s a former President, his erstwhile wife becomes his WIDOW (not wife). And in case your wife passes on ahead of you, brother, we’ll refer to you as WIDOWER of mama so-and-so. Just like in Kiswahili in which, once you return to your Maker, the woman you leave behind earns the badge MJANE. Incidentally in our national language, the man is also MJANE if his wife dies ahead of him.
On Page 4 of the same edition, in a story entitled, “MPs query police action on Women’s Day”, the scribbler says in the intro:
“As Tanzanian women joined their COLLEAGUES across the world to commemorate the International Women’s Day…”
A-a! The issue here is about Tanzanian women and their COUNTERPARTS (not colleagues) across the world. A colleague, let’s say it here for the millionth time, is a PERSON THAT YOU WORK WITH, ESPECIALLY IN A PROFESSION OR BUSINESS.
It’s such a pity that many Bongo scribblers—including those with free access to this newspaper—have been deaf to our oft repeated reminder that the word “colleague” isn’t as fluid as Kiswahili’s MWENZANGU, a word we can use variously to mean: counterpart, colleague, partner, companion, associate and even accomplice (fellow criminal)!
Ah, this treacherous language called English!
