Engineers instructed to PUSH water from wells to all areas

I will avoid my usual tutorial blah-blah and move straight to the key objective of this column, which is sharing linguistic gems picked up from recent editions of the Bongo press. So, here we go…

Before me is a November 27 copy of Bongo’s huge and colourful broadsheet which has a story on Page 4 entitled, ‘Dr Mwinyi instructs ZAWA to immediately find solution to water woes facing residents’. Therein, the scribbler wrote: “The President…challenged them to also PUSH water from some of its seven deep WATER wells to enable residents in Miwani, Kizimbani and Bumbwisudi to access the vital liquid at the NEAR vicinity.”

Push water? Nope; we don’t push water found at some place, more so in wells. Instead, we PUMP it. And, if we are talking about pumping water, there’s no need to qualify “wells” with “water”, for that would be tautological—stating the obvious!

Vicinity, so says my wordbook, means the AREA NEAR or surrounding a particular place. However, if our colleague was overly keen on using a qualifier for the word “vicinity”, he could have said “…in the IMMEDIATE vicinity.” We can also say CLOSE vicinity.

On Page 3 of the same broadsheet, there is a story headlined, ‘Blue economy will boost Gross Domestic Product’, in which the scribbler wrote in Para 2:

‘Emmanuel Malya, a shipping GULU who is also former president of the Tanzania Shipping Agents Association, said the blue economy has numerous potentials…”

Shipping gulu? Of course, nope! Our colleague is certainly telling readers that Mr Malya is a shipping GURU, meaning, he is a shipping EXPERT. Mixing the sounds R and L is the nemesis of many of us in Bongo, the reason being that these two are allophonic in some of mother tongues. That is, they have the same linguistic value.

On the Back Page, the broadsheet carries a story entitled, ‘Simba SC braced for tricky 2021/22 CAF Confederation Cup playoff clash’. In this one, the scribbler says in Para 4:

“[This paper] IS LOOKING for some of the most important information FOR Red Arrows FC that will face Simba SC in the final stage of the playoffs and BRINGS important details about the Zambian side.”

There is a serious issue with grammar and logic here. Why, when the scribbler says his paper is “is looking” for certain things, then proceeds to bring (reveal) those things, readers remain confused!

And then, the information being sought is not FOR Red Arrows FC, it is information ON/ABOUT Red Arrows FC. Let me stop fumbling and simply rewrite our colleague’s sentence:

“ [This paper] LOOKED for some important information ON Red Arrows FC that will face Simba SC …and CAN NOW REVEAL important details about the Zambian side.”

In the same broadsheet, there is a story on Page 6 entitled, ‘WHO commends efforts to increase access to essential curative services for kidney disease’, in which the scribbler says in Para 3: “Chronic kidney disease is PREDICTED TO affect 14 per cent OF PEOPLE in the sub-Saharan Africa.”

You predict (or forecast) that something WILL happen, and you might need to specify the time that your prediction will come to effect. I aver our scribbling colleague meant to say: “Chronic kidney disease is SAID TO affect 14 per cent of THE PEOPLE (not “of people”)…

And now, a look into what was picked up from Page 1 of Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet of Sunday, November 28. In a story with the headline, ‘Government intensifies fight against climate change’, the scribbler writes in Para 2:

“He said the government has set aside 427 HECTORS to be used as reserves…”

Set aside 427 hectors? No, what has been set aside are 427 HECTARES…Why, hector is not even a noun; it is a verb that means to “talk to someone in a bullying way”.

Ah, this treacherous language called English!