Friday January 18, 2008
Between the two goal posts
By STEPHEN KAU
LANGUAGE, particularly English, should not be static, old-fashioned, many say. Necessarily, it must evolve – even to the point of absorbing words of other languages – to reflect the lives and lifestyles of its users, regardless of their nationalities.
And if it is useful for written English to change to suit modern connotations and values – for example, from 19th-century “gay”, meaning happy/happy-go-lucky, to the 21st-century reference to a person’s sexuality – then it’s even more appropriate for spoken English to emphasise our obsession with exaggeration.
I agree ... to a certain extent. Nowadays, it’s normal for storytellers (i.e. all of us, for we all love to talk and tell stories) to exaggerate, especially when tossing out jokes or insults.
“Man, that guy was so stupid, so dense, so THICK, all the wood in the neighbourhood timber factory got jealous!”
This, I can accept. The exaggerated emphasis is for humorous effect. But I draw a line when it comes to tautology, especially when spoken.
Tautology: Unnecessary use of extra words that mean the same thing in one sentence.
Imagine, during coverage of political goings-on leading to a general election, a television political commentator saying this: “At this point in time in the current high-pressure political climate, all the politicians of both major parties, the Liberals as well as the candidates of the Australian Labor Party, are presently indulging in the modern practice of kissing babies while campaigning.”
Terrible! Who writes this kind of stuff?
I also frown at this: “Get your free gift between 10am and 12 noon.”Is there an 11-noon or a 13-noon that nobody told me about? Also, if a gift is not free, then what is it?
I’ll accept that “free gift-wrapping” is not tautology, because there are many shops and stores that charge for this service. But “FREE gift”?
How about: “The striker kicked the ball right smack in the middle in between the two goal posts.”
Presumably, there are football games that feature multiple goal posts at each end of the field, so much so that if a ball is slightly off-centre, then it isn’t between anything!
Yes, I realise it is difficult being TV sports commentators calling the play-by-play, but shouldn’t they be more competent than that, speaking professionally?
An Australian newsreader read: “The fire flared up in the wee small hours of early Friday morning.”
“Wee” means small in Scotland. “Small hours” (of a day) refers (usually) to the period between midnight and 3am. Which means it is early in the day. Which means it is morning. But maybe all this means something else in Australia. Why else would that newsreader offer all that long-winded rubbish instead of the concise “The fire broke out early Friday”?
Talking about long-winded descriptions presented on television, presumably to add colour to the narrative, consider this: “While the authorities in the People’s Republic of China’s capital city are winding down their preparations for the Olympics in Beijing in the new year, the Poms (Aussie slang for Britons) are gearing up for the London Games in five years’ time in 2012.”
Uhm, excuse me, Mr Highly-Paid TV Social Editor, but seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years are measures of time, and you don’t need to say “in five years’ time”. It’s enough to say “in five years”.
Indeed, with the date, 2012, provided, the whole phrase “in five years’ time” could be deleted, period.
Your turn, readers. Rewrite the following to make each sentence simpler, direct:
* “This little bit of good news will surely put a smile on his face.”
* In the year of 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail on board the ship Santa Maria for the New World.
* Robert told the police he saw with his very own eyes the two men beating the drunk.
* “Please key in your bank card’s PIN-number and then press the ‘OK’ button.”
* “My sister gave birth to a really tiny, little baby.”
* The bus was on the left hand side of the road.
* “By her very own actions, Shanti proved that her unique way of looking at things is very different from everybody else’s.”
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