We have a bagful of linguistic gems we are sure will fill this space to the brim, which is why we shall skip our usual introductory blah-blah and move on to share out the goodies with you. Here we go\u2026<\/p>\n
On Page 1 of Bongo\u2019s senior-most broadsheet of Saturday, August 15, there is a Page 1 story entitled, \u2018TZ strong GDP growth to CREATE WEALTH, REDUCE POVERTY\u2014AfDB.\u2019<\/p>\n
The headline\u2019s content is reiterated in the intro, with the scribbler writing this: \u201cTanzania\u2019s strong economic growth has the potential to CREATE WEALTH and REDUCE POVERTY, with the real gross domestic product expanding by 6.0 per cent in 2025\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
This is a really \u201cfeel good story,\u201d what with the continental lender telling us that things are not as bad as they may look to some. Bongo is not just getting by; it is getting on! Our concern, however, is the idea of talking about wealth creation and poverty reduction as if they are different things.<\/p>\n
Our view is, by creating wealth, you are in effect reducing (if not eradicating) poverty in society. A certain linguistic guru we contacted in regard to the headline said, actually, for his part, saying \u201cstrong GDP creates growth creates wealth and reduce poverty is stating THE OBVIOUS, and that is not what newsmen and women are employed to do!<\/p>\n
The lead story for Page 4 is entitled, \u2018Plans afoot to revive monkey trade,\u2019 and for his intro, the scribbler writes: \u201cThe Government has finalised plans to revive COMMERCIAL BUSINESS in baboons and monkeys, WITH AIM to reduce their numbers in residential areas\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Commercial business in\u2026? Why not, simply, \u201cCOMMERCE in\u2026\u201d or just \u201cBUSINESS in\u2026\u201d. And, we don\u2019t say \u201cwith aim to\u2026:\u201d we say, \u201cwith THE aim to\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Towards the end of the story, our scribbling colleague purports to quote a minister as saying: \u201cPeople who lost their properties INCLUDING RELATIVES will get compensation\u2026\u201d Oh, Lord, nope! Relatives are NOT properties; they are persons; human beings. We are certain the minister said this: \u201cPeople who lost properties AS WELL AS RELATIVES will be compensated\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Page 18 of the broadsheet treats readers with a refreshing photo spread, entitled \u2018Kizimkazi festival in pictures.\u201d One of the eight independent photos has a caption whose headline reads: \u201cParticipants enjoying THE performance.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0 The reader is certain to ask, \u201cWhat performance?\u201d Yes, what with the use of definite article \u201cthe\u201d instead indefinite article \u201ca.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finally, we move on to share what obtains in Bongo\u2019s huge and colourful broadsheet of Monday, August 7, whose Page 3 has a story thus headlined: \u2018Norwegian church AID steps in to provide lifesaving HIV treatment following AID disruption in northern Tanzania.\u2019<\/p>\n
We consider using the word \u201caid\u201d twice in a headline unnecessary! Monotonous. How about a rewrite that would eradicate the monotony? Here it is: \u2018Norwegian DONOR steps in to provide lifesaving HIV treatment following AID disruption\u2026\u2019<\/p>\n
Then, in his intro, the scribbler says:\u00a0 \u201cThousands of individuals living with HIV in northern Tanzania have expressed PROFOUND gratitude to Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) for providing emergency funding and medical support following termination of funding from the United States\u2026in 2025.\u201d<\/p>\n
We have said it before in this space; let us say it again today: the role of a news scribbler is to report bare, measurable facts, avoiding emotionally-charged words.<\/p>\n
He casts away words that only a PR officers for an organisation may use liberally in press releases he sends to newsrooms. In this particular case we would have suggested a deletion of the adjective \u201cprofound.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ah, this treacherous language called English!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We have a bagful of linguistic gems we are sure will fill this space to the brim, which…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":391041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[55],"tags":[152],"class_list":["post-391040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tanzania","tag-tanzania"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/117141944736085230","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=391040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/391041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=391040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=391040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=391040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}