Lost in translation: 3 examples

Journalists find it very hard to avoid the use of idioms which often take up precious space especially in headline writing. Here's another problem: use familiar easy-to-understand idioms and they are often the cliched ones ("Avoid cliches like the plague!"); resorting to unfamiliar idioms risks confounding the reader (or listener/viewer).

I was stumped by this recent ST headline:

I found this Urban Dictionary definition of "stub one's toe" hilarious!...

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=STUB+ONE%27S+TOE

It is an awful headline. One can only hazard a guess that, on one hand, Mrs Clinton had only herself to blame for her careless self-inflicted political trouble but that, on the other hand, this "emailgate" setback would not deter her from running for the presidency next year. I am sure there is a way in plain English to get these points across in a headline.
_______________________________________________

A newsmaker might have used an idiom in his or her remarks but the headline writer should not blindly use it if it is better to use plain words to convey the intended message. This rather silly headline below looks like the work of a lazy headline writer:

_____________________________________________

Finally, I would have no quarrel with the use of "nuclear option" in this headline below if (a) the phrase was left in quotation marks; (b) the term itself was explained in the text of the story:

This was how one online business e-paper used the expression "nuclear option" in a headline and explained its figurative meaning in the text of the story; that's how it should be done!...

ECB's 'nuclear option' better as deterrent than weapon

http://www.business-standard.com/article/international/ecb-s-nuclear-option-better-as-deterrent-than-weapon-112100100131_1.html

Sales pitch (im)perfect?

Such a nice, huggable bear-bear. And what is the nature of the "soft and comfort" product that carries this brand name? (Answer at the end)...

Wah, 12,000 litres of water at every performance! Am I supposed to be impressed? Maybe national water agency PUB should be asking questions, which may lead to a disclaimer in the ad along these lines... "No water was wasted in the course of this performance. Every drop was reused for the next show"?

"1st Born Eggs". Again, am I supposed to be impressed?

Staple bullets. For a staple gun? Whatever happened to staples, which are what goes into a stapler (at least that's what I knew them to be)...

Picture: Kim Ann

A pretty model is always welcome eye candy...

But how does a pretty girl become an "icon for cars"?...

She's got the perfect chassis? One cheeky writer penned a short article and titled it:

Women Are Like Cars

http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/women-are-like-cars-1464749024

Warning: Some people might be offended so caveat emptor if you want to click on the link above.

Finally, here's what Bear-bear is meant for...

Ah so. Poo-poo.

I pi with my little i

I was not going to blog today (March 13). But I learnt that March 14 is a very, very special day. So, rather wait a day, why not do a short little blog about it today. Irrational, huh? But of course...

10 pi facts for the most irrational Pi Day of your life

http://mashable.com/2015/03/13/perfect-pi-day/

Grand-standing: truth be told!

ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGE:

Good morning . . . At present we are not at home, but please leave your message after you hear the beep. Beeeeeppp ....

If you are one of our children, dial 1 and then select the option from 1 to 5 in order of "birth date" so we know who it is.

If you need us to stay with the children, press 2
If you want to borrow the car, press 3
If you want us to wash your clothes and do the ironing, press 4
If you want the grandchildren to sleep here tonight, press 5
If you want us to pick up the kids at school, press 6
If you want us to prepare a meal for Sunday or to have it delivered to your home, press 7
If you want to come to eat here, press 8
If you need money, press 9
If you are going to invite us to dinner or take us to the theatre, START TALKING .... we are listening!

___________________________________________________

My Grandfather Is Eighty
And Still Doesn't Need Glasses....
He Drinks Straight Out Of The Bottle.  

____________________________________________________


Grandpas can take their teeth and gums out.

___________________________________________________

When granny and gramps read to us, they don't skip pages. They don't mind if we ask for the same story over again.

Everybody should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don't have television because they are the only grownups who like to spend time with us.

And, most of all...

GRANDPA IS THE SMARTEST MAN ON EARTH! HE TEACHES ME GOOD THINGS, BUT I DON'T GET TO SEE HIM ENOUGH TO GET AS SMART AS HIM!

Interesting numbers...

Political salaries, not politicians' salaries
(I guess if they say so, it must be so, even if I don't understand the semantic difference. And of course political salaries will not be changed anytime soon, hehe.)

So what's much, much, higher than MR4? The ultra-wealthy.
(And they've been discovering Singapore!)

It's not economic inequality per se; what really matters is social mobility
Mr Tharman, in his Budget speech, cites the numbers to show how well Singapore has done, social mobility-wise:

Meanwhile, in the USA, some interesting findings...

_______________________________________________________

Case of the missing word
Finally, I thought something was wrong with this headline (ST, March 10):

This correction appeared today (March 11):

An enduring love affair with flying machines.

I have been in love with airplanes ever since I was a boy in the 1950s. My favourite childhood tin lithograph toys were a battery operated B-29 (or it could be its postwar successor, the B-50) superfortress bomber (made in Japan!) with flashing lights and engine sound, and a wind-up Sikorsky S-55 helicopter with whirling rotor. The B-29's single-piece wing assembly could be separated for compact storage. The chopper's rotor assembly was detachable, and foldable too. Amazingly, I could find images of these two brightly-lithographed toys online...

I also had this flying saucer (exactly as shown below!)...

Fast forward to today, I still follow aerospace developments. This one reported in ST (March 10) is mind-blowing cutting-edge...

If broke, fix it!

I put this ST Forum letter among items in my blog entry of Feb 24, as I felt it had raised pertinent points about the state of the private ambulance service network:

The relevant authorities finally replied today (March 9):

Should one be satisfied with this official reply? No. Either Ms Loh's experience was unusual and hence the private ambulance operators (PAOs) had, on the whole, been doing a good job thus far; or at least some of them have been doing a lousy job thus far -- just a few rotten apples would be one too many in such a vital public service as this -- and the authorities only woke up after Ms Loh's letter. The official reply gives no direct clue but one gets the impression that the new service standard is meant to address lapses and/or flaws -- already detected even before Ms Loh's letter -- in the private ambulance service.

This raises one other question: why must the transition period take two years? What if another distraught person were to encounter a similar set of problems as Ms Loh did during this time?

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, so the saying goes. But if it is broke, it has to be fixed.

One more thing: Tell us how ambulance services are run in other First World countries. And, since "we" love to rank ourselves, tell us how we rank in this area!