Obscure Box

Thoughts from inside the obscure box
July 27, 2008

Was this pun intended?

Posted by : Michael Lund
Filed under : Language, Media, Online, Style

One of Brisbane’s most popular watering holes was gutted by fire overnight. But was the pun intended in the report “Victory Hotel destroyed by fire” (Monday 28 July 2008) in the Brisbane Times. Little remains bar the charred hull of the popular nightclub, which was completely guttered by the fire believed to have started in [...]


May 22, 2008

Someone should tell the CMC that Gordon Ramsay's coming to Queensland!

Posted by : Michael Lund

Ever wondered why celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay gets away with swearing so much on TV? Well a report by the University of Queensland’s legal academic Dr Tamara Walsh to the Crime and Misconduct Commission review into the state’s Public Nuisance Offence has some interesting reading. In “NO OFFENCE: The enforcement of offensive language and offensive [...]


May 20, 2008

Will someone please get "teh" accepted in the dictionary

Posted by : Michael Lund
Filed under : Language, Media

Is it me, or are keyboards and computers just determined to over-rule any attempt I make to type the word “teh”. Grrrrr… it’s done it again. Every time I try to type the word t-h-e I get “teh”. No matter what I do, or how slowly I try to type, or how convinced I am [...]


May 17, 2008

What's a veep and why would you want one

Posted by : Michael Lund
Filed under : Language, Online, Print

The headline “Clinton not entitled to veep spot” (Friday 16 May 2008) from the website of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer had me puzzled. What’s a “veep” and why can’t (Hillary) Clinton have one? Should I have one? Maybe I’ve already got one already but don’t know it? Search the web for “veep” and you find there’s [...]


May 13, 2008

A new media cliche

Posted by : Michael Lund
Filed under : Language, Media, Radio, Television

All these reports from the US media on the presidential campaign (enough already) has brought to light a new meaningless media cliche. Along with “it remains to be seen” and “only time will tell” is another phrase that allows a reporter to say something when they’re really adding nothing to a story. The US media [...]


Just so you know…

All thoughts and comments here are the honestly held personal opinion of Michael Lund and are based on the information available at the time of publication.

Categories

Admin