‘Criminals & Hoodlums’ Pleonastic

Media Gaffes

By Ebere Wabara

DAILY Sun Front Page Banner of April 15 welcomes us today with this schoolboy howler: “Lockdown: anxiety as criminals, hoodlums terrorise (terrorize, preferably) Lagos, Ogun” Without much ado, hoodlums are criminals!

“StarTimes develop (develops) videos to curb fake news” StarTimes is a pay TV operator.

“Soldiers take over troubled spots” Let peace reign: trouble spots.
“Post election violence spreads” Towards a better life for the people: Post-election violence….

“…lost his life in a ghastly auto crash in Greece.” It was a fatal (not ghastly) accident.

“President Muhammadu Buhari, yesterday, expressed sadness over the sporadic violent protest (protests)….”

The next headline blunder is from last week’s edition of this medium: “Police arrest four over Maiduguri explosion” Do we arrest the entire editorial team for (not over) lexical recklessness?

“Bribery enthrones mediocrity and crucify merit.” The Tabernacle of bribery crucifies merit.

“Gang up against Buhari will fail” Phrasal verb: gang up; noun: gang-up (which applies here).

“We were treated to another similar incidence.…” All newspapers should know the difference between ‘incidence’ and ‘incident’ (which applies here).

“Although the governor’s last minute romance with the main opposition party is held against him.…” Saturday People: last-minute (take note of the hyphen) romance
“Thus, a core investor…with regards to optimal use of the machinery.…” (THE GUARDIAN, March 12) Either: as regards or with regard to….

“In the heydays of the goggled General when fuel was often unavailable…” (THE GUARDIAN, March 20) Stranglehold of oil workers: heyday (uncountable).

“Last year, many houses of the Igbo in Ajegunle, a suburb of Lagos, were razed down.…” No word abuse: simply razed (not razed down). Discard the contrary views by some registers!

Yet another headline gaffe: “Restrictions on inter-bank foreign exchange trading is (are) killing the market.”

“Armed robbers now have good company–street thugs and unofficial vigilante groups.” (THE GUARDIAN, March 20) Democracy as a disincentive: vigilance groups.
“PDP points accusing fingers at INEC….” (DAILY SUN, March 20) People in the news: PDP points the finger. No obtuse addition.

“Nigeria is at a crossroad” (VANGUARD, March 20) Fixed expression: at a/the crossroads.

“Stationeries badly needed by.…” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, March 20) ‘Stationery’ is non-count.

“But what appears criminal is the desire of these off-springs of.…” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, March 20) ‘Offspring’ does not take any inflection.

The next three goofs are from VANGUARD of March 20: ”…the process of economic integration from which will emerge an economic block (bloc).…”

“There is a tussle going on between these two (would it have been three?) arms of government.”

“Globacom sets (set) to rule domestic market” (Nigerian Tribune, March 20)
“I have been briefed that the wrangling among the leaders of PDP are (is) over.” (SUNDAY VANGUARD, March 29)

BusinessDay of April 2 disseminated an embarrassing impropriety: “Now that the Police has (have) taken over the supervision of the….”

“…and ensure it does not reoccur again.” (THE GUARDIAN, April 2) ‘Reoccur again’? Run for cover, my dear reader! Just recur. Recur, recurrence, recurrent. Occur, occurred, occurrence.

“Lack of incentives anger (angers) local manufacturers” (THE GUARDIAN, April 2)
“They provide temporary relief.” (Source: as above) ‘Temporary relief? I strongly object to that clumsy expression because there is no permanence in ‘relief’.

THE PUNCH of April 2 circulated three solecisms: “The patients pay for each act of ‘healing’ through their noses.” Get it right: they pay through the nose.

“At the launching programme in Abuja.…” Get it right: At the launch in Abuja
“A cursory look at the figures show (shows) that.…”

Daily Sun of April 1 circulated copious shibboleths: “The end point is that people wait for between three to five hours to pay in their drafts.” English without tears: between three and five hours.

“With the attainment of the highest office at any strata of government….” Singular: stratum; plural: strata.

“It may be difficult for Alhaji Nuhu Ribadu to resurrect again politically after his disastrous outing in the just-concluded presidential elections.” Please, yank off ‘again’ in the interest of lexical sanity and our democracy.

“They better not rely on INEC.” This way: They had better not rely on INEC.

“Like (As) we had said at various forums.…”

“So, the government cannot ask the Supreme Court to interprete the law.” Spell-check: interpret.

“…the reduction in the number of road accidents and causalities.” This way: casualties.

“…to that extent, we shall congratulate its authors for (on/upon) hearing the deafening cry of Nigerians for an effective legislature.” (Nigerian Tribune, April 2)
“…were simultaneously a continuation of the power-bloc struggle in Nigeria and unanticipated fallouts from that struggle.” (DAILY INDEPENDENT, April 2) ‘Fallout’ is uncountable.

“Out-of-control trailer crushes 15 persons to death” When people are crushed by a trailer, they cannot be alive except there is divine intervention. So, ‘crushed to death’ smacks of lexical insensitivity. This way: Out-of-control trailer crushes 15 persons

“The unprecedented onslaught against PDP faithfuls and other citizens….” ‘Faithful’ is uncountable.

“…CJN yesterday read a riot act to judicial officers nationwide, threatening to dismiss anyone caught perverting justice.” Fixed expression: read the Riot Act.
“Buhari, APC plot take over of S/East” Noun: takeover (which applies here); phrasal verb: take over.

“APC, PDP in neck-to-neck battle” Get it right: neck-and-neck battle.

“Tomplo Boys lay siege on Shomolu, Bariga” This way: lay siege to Shomolu, Bariga
“JTF arrests four over (for) illegal bunkering in Warri” (DAILY INDEPENDENT Headline, January 21)

“…Africa’s richest man beseiged” Spell-check: besieged.

Nigerian Tribune of January 23 did not confirm its self-adulation: “Under him, the body which comprised of eight countries grew to become 49.” The pride of Lagos-Ibadan press: expunge ‘of’ from the extract.

“It seems the bickering between the two unions is deepening.” (DAILY TRUST, January 23) We can conveniently do without ‘two’ in this excerpt because of its irrelevance.

“They are little aware that our great men of yesteryears were able to achieve.…”

(Leadership, January 23) What has happened to the reputation of excellence? ‘Yesteryear’, just like ‘heyday’, is uncountable.

”Bandits kill two police, injure three others in Lagos” One of these: policemen, police officers, constables or cops; not just ‘police’.

Vanguard of January 23 bungled two expressions: “They would rather kill themselves over who is superior….” Friends of the Niger Delta: They would rather kill one another. It is not yet a suicidal stuff.

“But the governor has stuck to his gun, insisting that his action is perfectly constitutional.” (THISDAY, January 23) Stuck to his guns (not gun)

FEEDBACK

Dear Ebere,

Do not let the incorrigible nature of colleagues of yours discourage you. It is disheartening that a number of errors you painstakingly correct on a weekly basis are still made by them repeatedly. They have defiantly remained incorrigible. Take for instance this recurring blunder which you have corrected copious times: ‘The beverage industry which is gradually warming (worming) its way back into the hearts consumers…’. The phrasal verb ‘warm your way into something’, though disapproving, means ‘to make somebody like you or trust you in order to gain some advantage for yourself. In this context, the verb ‘worm’ is needed, not ‘warm’.
Dr. Stanley Nduagu/08062925996