O, protect us

Memo to today's The Deep End and its expert this week, Ms Crombie: Mozart was certainly a child prodigy, but hardly a child protégé.

Tagged: scose, abc, australia, australian, english, language, radio, grammar, spelling, pronunciation, journalism, radio+national

Lincoln Hall's death was greatly exaggerated

It's hard to criticise ABC Radio National on a Saturday, as I revel in the smorgasbord of excellent programming that always comes my way on this day of the week. The Music Show, the Philosophers' Zone, science, current affairs ... it's all so wonderful.

But it must be said that yesterday I and no doubt many other people unnecessarily were put into a flurry when The World Today (like many other media) reported that Lincoln Hall had died on Mt Everest. (My report here.)

Because I know Lincoln, I nearly rolled my car when I heard this story. I arrived at a meeting with tears in my eyes. I phoned a mate who also knows Lincoln and we had a long commiseration session on the mobile phone. (I'm not saying these things wouldn't have happened had I known Lincoln was alive but critically ill.)

I hate to be picky, but shouldn't this story have been double, triple checked? Note that Simon Balderstone, Lincoln's friend, referred to "the various pieces of information not always consistent flying off the mountain". Certainly Simon thought that Lincoln was dead, and so did a fellow climber of Lincoln's, but surely that isn't enough evidence for quality journalism. I'm a bit unhappy that I grieved for four hours over the death of someone whose demise was greatly exaggerated. Now I have something else to grieve about, namely Lincoln's severe illness, but that's another matter. All the media seem to have blown this story, basing it (or so it would seem) on a report on the Mount Everest website.

I appreciate that it's not as though The World Today could just ring Mt Everest and ask for all the facts. But because of that, the story should have been written with a question mark, not as fact.

Tagged: journalism, australia, abc, radio+national

Fingers crossed for Feedblitz

If you are an email subscriber to this blog, your subs from today will no longer come via Bloglet but via Feedblitz. I hope the transfer goes smoothly, and you are welcome to let me know if it does or doesn't.

If you don't get this blog in your email box each day, you are very welcome to join the happy throng by signing up in the sidebar on this page.

Update: I'm a dirty rat. I've said harsh things in the past about Bloglet, but this post at Feedblitz explains a lot of stuff I didn't know, so this is my public apology to Monsur who pioneered blog-to-email subs and did it altruistically, not as a money-making scheme. He has actually allowed Feedblitz to import all his free 'customers' (read his new post). Good luck to Monsur in all ways, and thanks. And anyone else who appreciates what he did can email him at bloglet at gmail dot com.

Tagged: internet, rss, email, internet+resources, blog, bloggers, blogging

Auntie having a lend of us again

Hey, ABC Radio National News: the present participle from the verb to lend, is "lending", not "loaning", as any child knows.

Any child outside the good old USA, that is. Australians lend things, they don't loan them. They take a loan from a bank, because it's a noun.

Sorry, I know it's painful to some ears, but I'm determined to be relentless in my campaign to tackle the ABC's apparent determination to destroy Australian idiom and replace it with American. I don't intend to give up. There are bigger issues here than just words. One of them is the whole mindset of acceptance of American cultural imperialism and the hold that it has on the ABC. ABC is the last place that should be undermining Australian culture, but it's one of the ringleaders -- and I'm not the only one who is disturbed by it.

We should be proud of our own culture, and Auntie should show some pride too. From sea to shining sea ... from the Redwood forests to the Gulfstream waters, we won't give up our culture as easily as the ABC wants us to.

Tagged: scose, abc, australia, australian, english, language, radio, grammar, spelling, pronunciation, journalism, radio+national

When your pants begin to go

It was one of radio's odd moments that grabs you by the seat of your pants.

The affable Richard Aedy, on Life Matters, was interviewing an American gent, a journalist from NPR (National Public Radio), on the subject of the New York subway. The American said something about some people not wearing 'pants' on the train, and Richard Aedy said that he must explain, because in Australia 'pants' doesn't mean trousers, but underwear.

Is that not an odd moment in radio? I've lived in Australia for 53 years and have always referred to my breeches as 'pants'. What man in Australia doesn't call his trousers 'pants'? One thinks of Banjo Paterson's well-known book Happy Dispatches in which he uses the word 'pants', meaning trousers.

And of course, who can forget one of Henry Lawson's most popular poems, 'When Your Pants Begin to Go' (1896)? Australia's national writer is surely not talking about underwear. Here's an excerpt:

... You are none the less a hero if you elevate your chin
When you feel the pavement wearing through the leather, sock, and skin;
You are rather more heroic than are ordinary folk
If you scorn to fish for pity under cover of a joke;
You will face the doubtful glances of the people that you know;
But -- of course, you’re bound to face them when your pants begin to go ...

Who could be more Aussie than Henry Lawson? Try googling "henry lawson" pants and you'll be left scratching your head why Mr Aedy pulled up the American journalist to provide a translation of what is, after all, a good old Aussie word.

"He cautiously drew off his pants, and then stood close to the wall, in his shirt, tenderly examining the seat of the trousers."
Henry Lawson, '"Dossing Out" and "Camping"', in While the Billy Boils, 1896

Tagged: scose, abc, australia, australian, english, language, radio, grammar, spelling, pronunciation, journalism, radio+national