Expression By Ebere Wabara
BUSINESS of April 16 welcomes us today with this recurrent headline crudity: “AMCON raises alarm (the alarm) over rising NPLs in banks” Agreed that the article, ‘the’, is usually not allowed in headlines, but that realization should not affect fixed/stock idiomatic expressions and indeed any other inflexible lexical entry.
“Man dies in sex romp in Enugu hotel” ‘Sex’ and ‘romp’ cannot function in the same lexical environment as the latter indicates intercourse (sexual activity). Please note that it is an informal entry with multifarious applications.
“…the regime of crime with many youths taking to kidnapping and all manners of vices” (DAILY TRUST Opinion Page, April 10) Right: all manner of vices.
“Menace of under-aged voters” (DAILY INDEPENDENT Online, April 6) Get it right: underage voters. Never “overaged” players or “matured” politicians
“NASS will re-open Bakassi issue” (THISDAY Headline, April 3) This way: reopen.
“Ugwueze goes to the alter” (Vanguard Headline, April 7) High-heeled: altar.
“Imo: Late arrival of materials mar election in Oguta LG” A recurring case of subject-verb disagreement: Late arrival of materials mars (not mar). It has nothing to do with “materials”, but “late arrival”.
“In the past, such leaders have (had) plundered the common wealth and infected the environment with the demon of greed and avarice.” (NIGERIAN Tribune, April 11)
“The electorate streams (stream) out tomorrow at the beginning of a voting exercise that will ultimately ease out….” (THISDAY, April 11)
“There are two types of Persil brands in the market, apparently imported by private individuals (are there public individuals?) who thought there are (were) openings in Nigeria’s detergent market.” (Vanguard, April 11)
“Large turn-out signpost rescheduled Imo polls” (BUSINESSDAY, April 11) Get it right: turn-out signposts.
“No other country in (on) this continent throws up the kind of absurdities that we have in this land.” (DAILY INDEPENDENT Online, April 8)
“Such persons should be declared persona non grate (sic).” (Source: as above) At the crossroads: personae non grata.
“If he were still in power, the former governor would have been immuned (immune) to….”
“Thirdly, corruption was not limited to the outgoing governor but involved his cohorts at the corridor of power.” (Nigerian Tribune, April 11) Africa’s executive robbers: in the corridors of power.
“Even though I wanted to see him, he advised against it on the ground that I could get into trouble….’’ The verdict: on the grounds.
Still on the above edition: “The state Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) has 36 chapels out of which seven chapel officers, all duely (duly) nominated and some of the.…”
“…arrogating the powers of the National President and the Central Working Committee (CWC) on (to) himself and.…” (THE GUARDIAN, April 11)
“…the reduction on the external debt and investment in social infrastructures and equipments.” (THE PUNCH, April 11) The last word in the extract is uncountable, just like these: stationery, bedding, cutlery, jewelry, gossip (as an act)….
“Why is President Bola Tinubu dragging his foot (feet/heels) on probing treasury looters…?” (DAILY INDEPENDENT Online, April 11)
“…abolish the federal agency and realign it into (with) mainstream government machinery.” (NIGERIAN Tribune, April 11)
“Thugs in Imo State lay siege on Okorocha’s relics” (Sunday Trust, April 15) This way: lay siege to (not on).
“They had a second wind between 1964 to 1985, though they did not know it.” (Source: as above) A common error: between 1964 and 1985 or from 1964 to 1985—no mix-up.
“I must confess from the onset that I am not a protagonist of military rule.’’ (DAILY INDEPENDENT Online, April 11) Get it right: from the outset (in this context).
“The boss and his secretary will continue to have intimate official connection, in spite of gossips.” (DAILY TRUST, April 11) ‘Gossip’, as an act, is uncountable. But, with reference to those who talk idly and backbite, inflection of the word is allowed.
“But ours is quite different, judging by the experience with regards to the activities of the elected….” Either of these: as regards or with regard to.
“The industrial sectors of the economy have to invest in information technology, the type of which would stimulate the necessary (could it have been unnecessary?) inputs to produce good results.’’ In Standard English, which strictly applies here, ‘input’ is non-count, but countable in the usually informal American English, which, of course, is a corruption of the formal version.
“The elitist Ikoyi Club, established in 1938, sometime ago celebrated its Diamond Jubilee amid pomp and pageantry.” (DAILY INDEPENDENT Online, April 11) Standard expression: pomp and ceremony (or circumstance) or just pomp. The expression, ‘pomp and pageantry’, is a perversion of the etymology of the English language.
“Staff Reporter…takes a peep into the nation’s recent past and notes that it is a past whose scars will remain for sometime.” (THE GUARDIAN, April 11) Right focus: for some time.
“One of the suspects said his intention was to warm (worm) his way back to the country.…”
“…gunshot wounds he received in the hands of armed bandits….” (DAILY TRUST, April 11) Reporters who don’t appreciate the magnitude of ‘banditry’ should play ball with ‘armed robbery’. ‘Banditry’ is simply criminal violence that culminates in aggravated roguery which involves inevitable use of weaponry. So, in the interest of morphological sanity, delete ‘armed’.
The next catachresis is from the Sunday Vanguard of April 19: “The chairman of the occasion quickly acknowledged it was not easy to launch a book after Chidi has (had) launched it.”
“Two failed banks chiefs get bail” Towards a better use of language: bank chiefs. The plurality of ‘banks’ had been taken care of by ‘chiefs’, in line with syntactic sequence.
“Lagos NURTW swims in fresh crisis: “Thugs in free-for-all fight” Delete ‘fight’ to avert calamitous redundancy.
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