‘Govt says again it will act on churches, bars that play music in high SOUNDS’
We are CLEANING stock? No way! We’re certain an artist was assigned to paint …CLEARING stock. The message here is that, the trader is ready to clear (get rid of his merchandise) at prices that buyers can easily afford. Going by the signboard the prices are down to 60% (not %60) 50% (not %50 and 40% (not %40), of the original cost…or so we aver. Trust signwriters! PHOTO | COURTESY
In last week’s edition of this column, while exposing a goof made by a colleague who wrote: “…whooping Sh428.85 billion” when he had in mind “whopping Sh428.85 billion,” I said in Para 4:
“Let me note that the scribbler has made a homophobic goof by writing whooping (meaning, shout) when he had in mind WHOPPING (meaning, very large)”
“A UK-based reader, one FM, quipped via WhatsApp: ‘Pardon me, Abdi, I didn’t understand when you said ‘homophobic’ goof, because in the West, homophobia is considered a crime.”
“Oops!” That’s all I could say in response to FM’s observation because, doubtlessly, I had in mind the word HOMOPHONIC, an adjective derived from the noun homophones (words having the same sound but different spelling and meaning). Homophobic, on the other hand, is the adjective for homophobe, i.e. a person with a dislike or prejudice against gays (homosexuals).
And now, a peep into the huge tabloid from Nairobi that commands a sizeable readership in Bongo, whose Page 12 of the Sunday, January 29 edition, has this story, ‘Farmers in the soup as imported maize lands’.
Towards the end of the story, the scribbler purports to quote a Trans Nzoia county executive in charge of agriculture, and writes:
“Some of the farmers are still harvesting the crop and there IS NEED to protect them from exploitation FROM middlemen.”
There is need? No; we say there is A NEED. Furthermore, the said need is meant to protect maize farmers exploitation BY (not from) middlemen.
Back to Bongo, where I’ve before me a copy of the tabloid associated with this columnist (Friday, January 3 edition), whose Page 4 has an article entitled, ‘How Happiness has managed to hone her leadership skills.’ Therein, our colleague reports:
“After RETIRING THE Miss Tanzanian crown, Happiness entered the corporate world, starting from the bottom…” Hello, you don’t retire a position; instead, you retire FROM a position.
Of course, if you hold a powerful office, you can retire (a polite word for “sack” or “fire”) a worker, that is, send him home before his statutory age of retirement. In Bongo, the statutory (read mandatory) age at which you become officially unemployable, is 60.
On Page 13, there’s another story whose headline is, ‘20th edition of Busara fest set to take off.’ In this one, the scribbler provides two quotes in a row. She writes:
“Our festival has come a long way,” said Yusuf Mahmoud, festival organiser.
Adding that, “We survived many challenges but we remain focused on our mission…”
There’re a couple of issues here. One, Yusuph Mahmoud is not festival organiser; he is THE festival organiser. Why, the role of Mahmoud is specific to the Busara Festival, which we already know about.
Two, by saying “Adding that”, there’s a disconnection between this expression and the preceding one. The reader would expect the scribbler to put it this way: “…said Yusuf Mahmoud, ADDING, “We survived many challenges…”
Or, after “…the festival organiser”, put a full stop followed by, “He added that…”
And finally, a couple of gems from Page 4 of the Saturday, February 4 edition Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet. In this one, there’s a story entitled, ‘Govt opts for stringent actions against sound polluters,’ in which the scribbler says in Para 5: “…Dr Jafo directed Nemc to make a CLOSE FOLLOW to (sic!) those engaged in noise pollution and should not keep on playing music in high SOUNDS…
Just a minute! You don’t make a “close follow;” rather, you make a close FOLLOW UP of (not to) those… And, uncouth bar operators don’t play music in high “sounds;” they play it in high VOLUME.
