OUR KIND OF ENGLISH: TRY and error? No; it is ‘TRIAL and error’

In the Friday, August 21 edition of the tabloid whose boss signs this columnist’s pay cheque, there was an article on Page 19, penned by an upcountry correspondent, entitled, “Why I quit bodaboda game”. Para 6 goes thus:

“In the bodaboda business, you learn the traffic rules on the job. It is a TRY and error self-training.”

Nope, we don’t say “try and error” even if it sounds okay—it’s TRIAL and error…” Take note that “try” is a verb, so it could probably be matched with another verb, “err” (try and err), while “trial”, a noun, has a closer affinity with “error”, another noun.

In the Saturday edition of the same tabloid, there was an opinion piece with the headline, “Shift of balance in Tanzania’s politics”. The scribbler, defining Mr Edward Lowassa’s role in Ukawa, says the former Premier has been “a God SENT”.

Something is a God sent? No way! We say “a godsend” (single word, small “g”). It’s an idiom that refers to “something wanted or needed that comes or happens unexpectedly”.

And then, in the Sunday tabloid version of Bongo’s huge and colourful broadsheet (August 23 edition), the biggest story was on former Premier Frederick Sumaye’s defection from CCM to the Opposition, and the headline was, “Why I join Ukawa”. The scribbler had this to say in Para 3:

“Sumaye, AN immediate predecessor to Lowassa in the premier’s post…”

There could have been only ONE immediate predecessor to Lowassa, so Sumaye was THE (not AN) immediate predecessor to Lowassa… The indefinite article “an” gives the impression that there were several immediate predecessors and Sumaye was simply one of them which, as we all know, is not true, nor does it make sense.

Come Saturday, August 22 and Bongo’s huge and colourful broadsheet ran, on Page 1 a story entitled, “JK blasts ICC for bias”, in which our scribbling colleagues—purporting to report what Mr Prez said—wrote in Para 2:

“He became OUTSPOKEN of the world justice in Dar es Salaam during the XVIth Annual SADC Lawyers Association General Meeting that HELD together lawyers from SADC member states.” No comment on this one since we can’t decipher the intended message.

Our colleague writes further in the subsequent Para: “He was particularly tough on ICC with regard to HIS NEIHGHBOURING KENYAN President Uhuru Kenyatta…”

Mr Kenyatta, for sure, is not Mr Kikwete’s neighbouring president. He is just President Kikwete’s counterpart… The sentence could be redeemed to read as below:

“President Kikwete was particularly tough on the ICC with regard to HIS COUNTERPART, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta…”

Another sentence in Column 3 of the story is written thus:

“This IS not the first time that Tanzanians, Kenyans and Ugandans HAD condemned ICC for bias, but it is first time the OFFICIAL TANZANIA goes international in TRADING criticism against the revered institution in Europe.”

Here’s our rewrite:

“This WAS not the first time that Tanzanians, Kenyans and Ugandans CONDEMNED the ICC for bias, but it WAS the first time TANZANIA WENT international in ITS criticism against the revered, Europe-based institution.”

(Let’s take note: When you trade this or that, it’s a two way thing. We trade accusations—you accuse me and I accuse you. We trade insults—I insult you, you insult me in return.)

And, finally, something from Bongo’s senior-most Sunday broadsheet. Page 1 of its August 23 edition had a story headlined, “CCM to roar at Jangwani as party starts campaigns”, in which the scribbler says in her intro:

“Jangwani grounds in Dar es Salaam will be a HIVE of political ACTIVITIES today as CCM launches its campaigns ahead of October general election.”

Idioms, we’ve always cautioned our colleagues, are fixed. We don’t have licence to change them to suit our whims. For that reason, we’re counselled to be double sure that we fully recall the phrasing before we take the plunge.

Now that the lecture is over, let’s say that we’re certain that the idiom our colleague had in mind is “BEEHIVE OF ACTIVITY (singular). Which is to say, her intro should have read:

“Jangwani grounds in Dar es Salaam will be a BEEHIVE of political ACTIVITY today as CCM launches its campaigns ahead of the October general election.”

Ah, this treacherous language called English!