The Kim Kardashians are SEX symbols; SEXUAL symbols are something else

A columnist for the Thursday, October 10 edition of a broadsheet wrote: “It’s a pity what the Nick Minajs, Kim Kardashians and (sic!) among other celebrity SEXUAL symbols are doing…”

Well, a sexual symbol is an image, a thing (literally), that represents an object, function, or process. However, when you are talking about a person that is widely noted for their sexual attractiveness, this person is a SEX symbol. Which means the Nick Minajs, Kim Kardashians and other celebrities are SEX (not sexual) symbols!

The columnist further writes: “As if this IS not enough, someone decided to wake up and pump into our already full head (sic!)…:”

Hello; when we say “as if” the linking verb must not be “is” or “was”; it should be WERE. So, the scribbler ought to have written, “As if this WERE not enough…”

And then, Page 4 of the Saturday, February 12 edition of Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet carries a story headlined, ‘Traders urged to support fight against fake goods’. Therein, the scribbler ends his story by giving an authoritative statement by writing the following:

“Dealing WITH counterfeit products is a criminal offence punishable by imprisonment FOR 4 to 15 years…”

Hello; a businessperson deals IN (not) with this or that product!

On the same page, there is another story entitled, ‘Dodoma YOUTHS advised on improving grape productivity’.

In the intro, the story goes thus: ‘Dodoma City Council has urged the YOUTH in the capital to form of join grape growing groups…”

In this one, the word “youth” and “youths” are used interchangeably as if they mean the same thing. The fact however, is that, they don’t. The noun “youths” refers to males alone while “youth” is about all young persons (male and female) in general—vijana.

Page 5 of the Friday, February 11 edition of the tabloid associated with this columnist, has a story entitled, ‘Nanai resigns as TPSF boss’. Therein, the scribbler writes about this exemplary son of Bongo Francis Nanai: “Mr Nanai, who holds a MASTERS in Marketing and a BACHELOR degree in Economics both from the University of Dar es Salaam…”

Hello, Mr Nanai holds a MASTER’S (not masters) in Marketing and a BACHELOR’S (not bachelor) degree in Economics…” Please note: the apostrophe (’) is not an option!

On Saturday, February 12, there is an interesting article on Page 14, entitled, ‘What will they write on your EPITAPH?’

The intro of the educative piece is an effort to define what an epitaph is, and the columnist writes, and I quote:

“An epitaph is the STONE with inscriptions that is often placed at the head-end of one’s grave.”

Oops! An epitaph, according to the numerous dictionaries we consulted, is NOT the stone. Rather it is the phrase or form of WORDS written in memory of a person who has died (especially as an inscription) on a TOMBSTONE.

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POST SCRIPT

Last Friday’s edition of this column had a headline that read, ‘You don’t feed him a cake; you feed him WITH a cake’. The headline was based on my disagreement with the caption in a broadsheet, which read: “Former Prime Minister Frederick Sumaye FEEDS Manyara regional commissioner Charles Mkongoro Nyerere a PIECE of cake at a CCM 45th birth anniversary ceremony held on Thursday.”

A reader, one HM, noted and communicated that my intervention was misguided. It is correct to say “FEED SOMEBODY SOMETHING” (not with something), he said.

His intervention was backed by credible and authoritative references. My response: Guilty as charged!

I have said before and I will repeat it: this column is an interactive platform. It is about I, the columnist, and you, the reader. I always welcome criticism, so that, together, we can continue to work towards improving our competence in this alien, treacherous language called English. A language that some of us have to use to earn our daily bread.