Due to circumstances that were beyond this columnist, we failed to deliver last week’s edition for this space, so we’ll kick off this one with an apology to our esteemed readers.
We’ll strive to cover the lost ground by avoiding our usual tutorial blah-blah and move straight to the cardinal task of sharing out linguistic gems. Here we go…
The Monday, September 1 edition of Bongo’s huge and colourful broadsheet is carrying five photographs (pgs1-3) related to this year’s elections.
The top photo on Page 1 reads: “Zanzibar Electoral Commission chairman Judge George Joseph Kazi (R) PICTURED at the commission’s offices at Maisera in Unguja Urban District yesterday presenting ‘nomination FORM’ to Othman Masoud Othman, the OPPOSITION ACT-Wazalendo candidate for the Zanzibar presidency…”
Hello! What political office aspirants are issued with by the electoral commission, are not “nomination form;” they’re “nomination FORMS.”
In any case, even if “form” was acceptable, our colleague should have preceded the qualifier “nomination” with the indefinite article “a”—a nomination form.
As for the other four photos featuring ZEC Chair Judge Kazi presenting nomination forms to Zanzibar presidency contenders, we note that in each of the caption, the caption scribbler tells his readers the man is PICTURED.
Our reaction: Since a person in a photo is obviously there because he was pictured, why say it?
And by the way, why do we consider it necessary to precede the name of a party with the qualifier “ruling” in regard to CCM, or “opposition” in regard to the numerous parties that are there seeking to replace CCM from governance?
That, when we’re reporting for national newspapers! Why waste newsprint space to state the obvious—unless you assume—quite wrongly—that you’ve ignoramuses for audiences!
On Page 5 of the broadsheet, there’s a story entitled, ‘CAG demands value for money in Msomera relocation project,’ in which the scribbler says in the intro:
‘The Controller and auditor general has conducted an OFFICIAL inspection of the ongoing development works at Msomera Village…where 1,500 modern houses have been built….”
Why tell readers that the CAG inspection of construction works was “official,” an assertion which gives the impression there’re occasion during which the CAG undertakes “unofficial” inspections. Talk of providing unnecessary, wastefully and useless information!
On Page 6 of the tabloid closely associated with this scribbler (Thursday, September 11) an opinion scribbler hits out at crooks who, some two decades ago, sunk so low as to embezzle donor cash meant for Aids orphans. Says the scribbler: “This is just A TIP of the iceberg. The problem is much more widespread…”
A tip of the iceberg? Nope, the idiom—which refers to a situation in which something is only a small part of a much bigger situation—is “THE tip of the iceberg.” Idioms, remember, are fixed!
In another opinion item with the headline, ‘Evict all park invaders,’ the scribbler writes in the intro: “The relevant authorities should MOVE fast to evict people who have MOVED into national park buffer zones…”
We suggest elimination of monotony by removing one “move” so that the sentence reads thus: “The relevant authorities should ACT fast to evict people who have MOVED into…”?
An avid reader, language critic and contributor of gemstones, Mr Ali Makengo, pointed to us goofing that appeared on Page 1 of Bongo’s senior-most broadsheet of Saturday, September 13, thanks to this headline: ‘Samia to advance EACOP/Pledges to restore TABORA historic status, ACCELARATE economic growth.’
Tabora historic status? A-a! We aver the headline scribbler meant to write, “TABORA’s historic status.” And the last word but-two is, for sure, ACCELERATE (not accelerate).
Ah, this treacherous language called English!
Send your photos and linguistic gems to email [email protected] or WhatsApp on Tel No 0688315580
