Words
Most Australians couldn’t give two hoots who runs the Australia Network. It is of no importance to them whether the ABC or SKY News is in charge of the television service this country projects into Asia.
Just the same, the spectacular botching of the tender process during the week has a political impact because it reinforces the impression of government incompetence.
The response of many voters to the scandal will be: “See, I told you. This mob couldn’t raffle a chook in a pub.”
Continue reading "Political pygmies could learn from giants of the past" »
Like kitsch, schnauzer and – to a lesser extent – gemütlichkeit*, schadenfreude is one of those excitingly guttural expressions that has hitchhiked its way from Germany into English-speaking countries such as Australia.
The loanword is a combination of Schaden (harm) and freude (joy), and describes pleasure taken in other people’s misfortunes.
It’s a phenomenon which can be observed with increasing frequency on internet sites such as failblog.org which revels in human error, embarrassment and outright idiocy.
Continue reading "Laughing at misfortune of others a big moral dilemma" »
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Shane says:
Wow gonzo, did you have to write a whole comment to show the punchers you’re devoid of humour? Comment FAIL ( that’s just for @neo) Read more »
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Another Emma says:
I absolutely love your articles Emma! I wish you wrote for the punch daily Read more »
Queensland really dodged a bullet.
After the devastating floods of that fatal tsunami inundated the state, the waters had barely receded when it was out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Turns out Yasi’s bark was worse than its bite.
Continue reading "When disasters leave us lost for words…" »
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Anna says:
I think it was a bit over-ambitious to expect that the average Punch reader would actually ‘get’ this article!! Read more »
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Anna says:
Paul, I think you and many others have completely missed the point of this ‘rant’! It’s about the overuse of tired cliches during the recent disasters. Sad reflection on our education system these days, when people need everything spelled out for them!! Read more »
Recently, much has been said about the death of the book. Perhaps more accurate though, is the death of words themselves.
Not that this is anything new. Oscar Wilde lamented Victorian England’s loss of meaning through an obsession with politeness, appearances and crustless sandwiches.
However, the difference now is that the meaning of words is decomposing because people use inappropriate synonyms to feel better about their insufficient vocabulary.
Continue reading "Lost words: the death of meaning in language" »
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Tracy says:
Hello Retired Soldier. I just wanted to say I enjoyed your earier post. I also want to thank you for fighting on our behalf and all of your years as a great Aussie. When younger people call our senior and highly respected citizens “old man” or “old woman’ they usually… Read more »
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Tracy says:
Thanks I Wish I’d Said That for making me spit my coffee out with your second comment about forgetting the end quotation mark…very funny! With reference to other comments from people about the annoying “must of” instead of “must have”; I think it might have come about because people read… Read more »
Our national political conversation is littered with words that have lost their meaning: ‘fighting for peace’, ‘protecting our borders’, ‘truth in sentencing’, the list goes on.
When it comes to the economy – ‘productivity and flexibility’ are two more benign, if somewhat bland, words that have been abused so horribly it is now tough to remember what they originally meant.
Often I read the commentary pieces in newspapers about these issues that make grand claims about the virtues of productivity and flexibility, a panacea to every business problem, a self-evident good.
Continue reading "How weasel words erode your working rights" »
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acotrel says:
If the mining workers had a piece of the action, their own share price was at risk, would that make a difference? We never hear about ESOP these days? Read more »
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acotrel says:
Fiddy, Henry Ford paid his workers 5 times the going rate. They could then afford to buy his products! Read more »
They come from far, they come from wide. They come with a fire in their bellies and a penchant for the written word that not even a million monkeys on a million typewriters could even dream of topping no matter how many sonnets they secured or peanuts they procured with their feverish and dexterous opposable thumbs. They are, of course, and without a shadow of a flickering doubt - bad writers.
The bad writer is a mystery for the ages. A mystery, wrapped in a riddle, snug as a bug in a tightly woven and off-white or eggshell coloured woollen rug.
The fact remains that since man has walked the earth since time immemorial, our command of language above all is what has set man apart from beast; what has separated the men from the boys (by men I of course mean men, and by boys I mean animals).
Continue reading "I hate bad writers with a fiery passion in my heart" »
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Duncan Horscroft says:
you might want to check the spelling of WILDEBEEST Read more »
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q says:
this is my favourite comment by far. Read more »
It really is the best invention, ever.
A company in the US has dreamt up a bit of punctuation to indicate that you are being sarcastic.
As if you ever going to need it.
Continue reading "Punctuation mark for sarcasm a brilliant idea" »
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papachango says:
There are already plenty of acceptable ways of showing sarcasm in the written form. Try emoticons like and the ‘rolling eyes’ one or even a /sarc tag if you’re geekisly inclined. Even inverted commas can do the trick, so that we don’t need this ‘incredibly useful’ invention… Read more »
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papachango says:
True the Amercians sometimes struggle with sarcasm and irony - which explains the Wayne’s World craze of ending a sarcastic sentence with ...NOT! Just to be sure that it is actually sarcastic y’know… You do realise that, while Alanis Morissette shows a similar inability to grasp irony, she is in… Read more »
Following the success of my colleague Paul Colgan’s call for entries to the Punch Political Dictionary, today we’re launching a parallel appeal for entries to the Punch Business Dictionary – those words and phrases that tripped off the tongue during the corporate gyrations of the past year.
The good folk at Macquarie Dictionary have offered six suggestions. Here are ours. Over to you - and please give generously.
Float-model: A beautiful woman used to attract investors to your listing on the stock market. Pioneered, and possibly perfected, by Myer with Jennifer Hawkins during its $2.4bn float. Investors, some no doubt encouraged to open their wallets by the presence of the former Miss Universe, are still waiting for the shares to reach their issue price.
Continue reading "Call for entries: updating the Punch business dictionary" »
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Polite Please and lets all get on!?!? says:
A kind and gentle farewell/ or a softer come back to the opposition, as you are thank-you?!? C - see U - you N - on T - Tuesday Read more »
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Shane From Melbourne says:
Industry Self Regulation: an oxymoron where you give the keys of the asylum to the inmates and tell them they can run it themselves….. Read more »
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From: Punch on: Open thread 09/02/2012
marley says:
I'm one of the older ones, so I've certainly seen a few changes in my time. When I started school I learned to write with a nib pen, dipped in an inkwell (no, I'm not kidding). My mother became a dab hand at getting inkstains out of my clothes. Flicking ink at one another in the classroom was an essential… [read more]From: I’d rather have a piece of toast than listen to crap lyrics
Erick says:
Led Zeppelin are responsible for my all-time favourite mixed metaphor: "There you sit, sit and stare, like a book on a shelf rusting." (Misty Mountain Hop) I laugh every time I hear it. Hmmm, I believe I've decided what to play on the way to work today. [read more]Gentle jabs to the ribs
No wuckin forries. These nuckin futs are tuckin fops
Well, puck me with a fitchfork. The F-word is apparently an acceptable part of Australian speech. That’s… Read more
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