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Thursday, June 28, 2007

The Perils of Journalistic Licence

All writers practise some form of journalistic licence in the selection of words or phrases that will interest the reader.

However I found this article a little misleading.

The headline read
"Landmark washed away in a breeze"

The first impression was that a strong gale force wind had destroyed something but the choice of words is a contradiction as a breeze does not wash anything.

But if one reads the article,it is revealed that the company is a major detergent manufacturer and that is how the word " washed" had to be included so the sub-editor can claim to be creative.

I wonder what the teacher who is probably weak in English is going to make of this artice. Don't be surprised if your primary school child writes an essay with this nonsensical phrase.

Newspapers in Education? Be warned!

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