Sloppy Headlines, Texts
GOVERNOR Nyesom Wike of Rivers State… during special breakfast meeting tagged….” (DAILY SUN Front Page Banner Caption, March 21) Get it right: at a special breakfast meeting “We agree with majority (a/the majority) of Abia people that Governor Ikpeazu has not fulfilled his campaign promises to the people of the state.” (DAILY Sun Editorial, March 21)
“Scaling-up (Scaling up) solar energy deployment in Nigeria” (DAILY SUN OPINION Page Headline, March 21) Phrasal verbs do not admit hyphenation.
“The close-door (closed-door) meeting which took place at the president’s office was just for 25 minutes.”
“Sambo arrived the villa few minutes before noon and went straight into the president’s office.” (NATIONAL NEWS, March 21) This way: arrived in the villa a few minutes before noon….
DAILY Sun Front Page Headline of March 19 takes over from the Wednesday, March 21, edition: “Okorocha shuns APC stakeholders (stakeholders’) meeting in Imo”
“Last year (a comma) you went to the prisons to celebrate with the inmates, that is the kind of difference you have brought to bear in (on/upon) leadership.”
“There will be checks and balances in every aspect of government business now and all loopholes must be completely plugged to checkmate the activities of those who have (had), in the past, been sabotaging the efforts of the government to give qualitative service to the people of Anambra State.”
BUSINESSDAY WEEKEND story of March 16 gave readers a paragraph they should distrust: “Electricity sector stakeholders and consumers have hit back at the Federal Government’s claim that the nation’s electricity generating capacity has reached 4,000 megawatts, saying the claim was false and that generation has indeed nosedived to less (sic) 3,600 megawatts.” Even without being professorially numerical, the reality here is that reduction from 4,000 to 3,600 can never be a nosedive—it is only a slight drop! Let us avoid malapropism, especially when a Diageo Africa Financial Newspaper of the Year is involved.
For the reader that sought the meaning of ‘sic’ via SMS: It is an adverb that means “thus (added in brackets after a word or expression in a quotation which looks wrong or absurd, to show that it has been quoted correctly).” Source: The New Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of The English Language.
From THE NATION ON SUNDAY of March 18 comes the next notoriety: “Five arrested over registration malpractice” I will not arrest the editor for (not over) this solecism! The daily edition of Tuesday, March 20, also fell into the same ditch: “Eight arrested in Ibadan over food poisoning scare”
The next three headline blunders are from Vanguard of February 15: “New Edo lawmaker sworn-in” Phrasal verbs (stave off, swear in) abhor hyphenation.
“Relocation of varsity: Only 2 people die in protest —Police” Tense characterization of headlines notwithstanding, only 2 persons (not people—even without being a lexicologist!) died (not die, contextually) in protest.
“A money bag threw some wads of naira notes into the air….” Politicians’ political campaign tragedy: A money-bags.
The Guardian of February 16 equally jumped on the bandwagon of headline slovenliness on two embarrassing occasions: “PENGASSAN is not aversed to PIB, says Ogun” I am averse to ubiquitous headline gaffes.
“Post conviction bail only granted under exceptional circumstances” An all-time critical element: Post-conviction bail…
“Obasanjo, Saraki, Atiku condole victims’ families” Either condole with or simply console.
“UI Lagos alumni restructures” (THE PUNCH Headline, February 14) Alumni (plural) restructure or alumni association restructures. Avoid mix-ups.
“Atiku overated himself” (TheNEWS Headline, February 14) Spell-check: overrated.
“I said there is no more monolithic north” (Tribune CHURCH On Sunday, March 18) A rewrite: I said there was no more monolithic north.
“Ministry drafts health officials to cholera infested areas” (SATURDAY TRIBUNE Headline, March 17) Community News: hyphenation (cholera-infested areas) makes a lot of difference in lexis and structure.
“Promoting values based leadership” Leadership initiative: just as corrected above.
The Guardian of February 12 circulated copious headline goofs and other misapprehensions as follow: “Gowon advocates revival of education sector” Sound literacy: educational sector. Adjective: educational; noun: education.
“To eradicate the level of illiteracy in the state….” You can only reduce illiteracy. Even the most educated nation in the world still has a percentage of illiterate population. Some people are either circumstantially or naturally uneducable! The intro also did not qualify the level of illiteracy in the state.