Grammar on RTE news items

TOMs WIFE

I don't think the standard of writing here is up to scratch for RTE. Am I just being over critical? (I've highlighted the relevant pieces in red - either typos or poorly constructed sentences). I'm no English professor so maybe it's me that's wrong in places.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0409/693107-jason-lee/

Jason Lee, 38, a former Goldman Sachs executive is accused of raping and assaulting the young woman who had spent the summer working in the United States. (comma after executive?)

In the early hours of 20 August 2013, the young woman, her brother and her friend joined Jason Lee and his friend for a late-night party at this house which Mr Lee was renting in East Hampton. ("at this house" or "at his house")

It is alleged that when the woman - then aged 20 - went to the bathroom, Mr Lee who was naked, followed her and barged through the door, pushing it so hard that she fell on the floor where he proceeded to rape her.

The police were later called to the property, and after briefly speaking to an officer, Mr Lee disappeared and was found almost two hours later hiding the back seat of his car. He had made a number of phone calls.

Today the court heard from a taxi dispatcher Yadira Holandes Vlazquez. She said she received a call for a taxi to come to the property from someone who was "agitated and definitely under stress".
She told the driver to go quickly there because the caller had told her it was "an emergency".

She told the court that the man called back again upset and asked where his taxi was, she said he said "Where the f*** is the taxi?"

She said she did not take the caller's name as it was company policy not to take names, but she did take his phone number. She said the person wanted to go to the Surf Lodge in Montauk, about a 25 minute drive away.
Under cross-examination she told the court that the caller was nervous, and sounded "like a typical city American who wants everything now" (no full stop)
She agreed with the defence lawyer Andrew Lankler's suggestion that he sounded "like a pushy New Yorker who wanted his cab and wanted it now".
She said that the caller did not have any accent, and did not have an Irish accent.
Detective Ryan Hogan later took the stand, he is a detective with the East Hampton Town Police Department and was called in on a day off to help with the alleged rape investigation. (should this not be "Detective Ryan Hogan, a detective with the East...., took the stand. He was called...)
He was charged with photographing Jason Lee and with putting his clothing into evidence bags.
Detective Hogan said Mr Lee was wearing khaki shorts, a grey Tshirt and white boxer shorts.
He was asked whether Mr Lee had any injuries or marks on his body, and replied that he did not have any injuries except for a little cut on the cuticle of this thumb. (this thumb? or his thumb?)
Defence lawyer Andrew Lankler asked Detective Hogan if he thought that cut was consistent with chewing fingernails and he said "yes - if you look at my fingernails anyway!"
Mr Lankler put it to him that Mr Lee did indeed chew his fingernails,and Detective Hogan replied that he didn't know because he hadn't seen Mr Lee's fingernails "in a very long time". (no space after comma after fingernails)

Ahh, maybe it's just me..

evilivor

TOMs WIFE wrote: »

I don't think the standard of writing here is up to scratch for RTE. Am I just being over critical? (I've highlighted the relevant pieces in red - either typos or poorly constructed sentences). I'm no English professor so maybe it's me that's wrong in places.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0409/693107-jason-lee/

Jason Lee, 38, a former Goldman Sachs executive is accused of raping and assaulting the young woman who had spent the summer working in the United States. (comma after executive?)

In the early hours of 20 August 2013, the young woman, her brother and her friend joined Jason Lee and his friend for a late-night party at this house which Mr Lee was renting in East Hampton. ("at this house" or "at his house")

It is alleged that when the woman - then aged 20 - went to the bathroom, Mr Lee who was naked, followed her and barged through the door, pushing it so hard that she fell on the floor where he proceeded to rape her.

The police were later called to the property, and after briefly speaking to an officer, Mr Lee disappeared and was found almost two hours later hiding the back seat of his car. He had made a number of phone calls.

Today the court heard from a taxi dispatcher Yadira Holandes Vlazquez. She said she received a call for a taxi to come to the property from someone who was "agitated and definitely under stress".
She told the driver to go quickly there because the caller had told her it was "an emergency".

She told the court that the man called back again upset and asked where his taxi was, she said he said "Where the f*** is the taxi?"

She said she did not take the caller's name as it was company policy not to take names, but she did take his phone number. She said the person wanted to go to the Surf Lodge in Montauk, about a 25 minute drive away.
Under cross-examination she told the court that the caller was nervous, and sounded "like a typical city American who wants everything now" (no full stop)
She agreed with the defence lawyer Andrew Lankler's suggestion that he sounded "like a pushy New Yorker who wanted his cab and wanted it now".
She said that the caller did not have any accent, and did not have an Irish accent.
Detective Ryan Hogan later took the stand, he is a detective with the East Hampton Town Police Department and was called in on a day off to help with the alleged rape investigation. (should this not be "Detective Ryan Hogan, a detective with the East...., took the stand. He was called...)
He was charged with photographing Jason Lee and with putting his clothing into evidence bags.
Detective Hogan said Mr Lee was wearing khaki shorts, a grey Tshirt and white boxer shorts.
He was asked whether Mr Lee had any injuries or marks on his body, and replied that he did not have any injuries except for a little cut on the cuticle of this thumb. (this thumb? or his thumb?)
Defence lawyer Andrew Lankler asked Detective Hogan if he thought that cut was consistent with chewing fingernails and he said "yes - if you look at my fingernails anyway!"
Mr Lankler put it to him that Mr Lee did indeed chew his fingernails,and Detective Hogan replied that he didn't know because he hadn't seen Mr Lee's fingernails "in a very long time". (no space after comma after fingernails)

Ahh, maybe it's just me..

Right at the end, is that meant to be a full stop or is it an an ellipsis that has lost one of its dots?

Harry Palmr

paragraphs!

The standard of sub-editing in media has been generally abysmal since about that point when on-line became more important than all other mediums. Everything is now done cheap and quick.

jrmb

Harry Palmr wrote: »

paragraphs!

The standard of sub-editing in media has been generally abysmal since about that point when on-line became more important than all other mediums. Everything is now done cheap and quick.

Sorry, couldn't resist

vector

Harry Palmr wrote: »

paragraphs!

The standard of sub-editing in media has been generally abysmal since about that point when on-line became more important than all other mediums. Everything is now done cheap and quick.

I agree with this, cheap and quick is the new reality.

Newsrooms are stocked with young, good looking folks, earning 8.65-10 euros an hour, its exciting but no pension, no perks.....there is pressure to publish first, and fix mistakes later (as a story will be edited later anyway with new info)

I served my time in one, and lost my job to a jobbridger (well thats my interpretation anyhow!)

filbert the fox

vector wrote: »

I agree with this, cheap and quick is the new reality.

Newsrooms are stocked with young, good looking folks, earning 8.65-10 euros an hour, its exciting but no pension, no perks.....there is pressure to publish first, and fix mistakes later (as a story will be edited later anyway with new info)

I served my time in one, and lost my job to a jobbridger (well thats my interpretation anyhow!)

If Paul Reynolds cannot get it right what hope the young ones. At least twice this morning talking on radio about Callinan etc. he used the killer

" ...neither.....or..."


He must have been listening to Newstalk a few minutes earlier where Mr. Perfect Micheal Martin did exactly the same thing.

POOR:(

StonyIron

I find their grammar on spoken news reports can be quite shocking too.

Also they seem to go for the oddest pronunciations of things sometimes.

The Kylo Meter
Fìn-Ance

And correcting the good people of Dun Laoghaire town name!

It's pronounced Dun Leary by everyone who has any reason to say it!

filbert the fox

StonyIron wrote: »

I find their grammar on spoken news reports can be quite shocking too.

Also they seem to go for the oddest pronunciations of things sometimes.

The Kylo Meter
Fìn-Ance

And correcting the good people of Dun Laoghaire town name!

It's pronounced Dun Leary by everyone who has any reason to say it!

Kilometer is supposed to be pronounced like kilo - meter - no LOM in between. From the French of course. Bien sur.

The worst tongue acrobatics must be reserved for the deadly Finna GWWaaooeellllllllllllll.

Gail Gail - simply gail.

StonyIron

filbert the fox wrote: »

Kilometer is supposed to be pronounced like kilo - meter - no LOM in between. From the French of course. Bien sur.

The worst tongue acrobatics must be reserved for the deadly Finna GWWaaooeellllllllllllll.

Gail Gail - simply gail.

I speak French and it's not remotely pronounced like kylo -- meter. It's run together and the sounds slide together.

Also, we speak English, not French.

In English kilometre is usually pronounced ˈkɪləˌmiːtər

The one I keep hearing on RTE is "kylo" "meter". It's not even kilo meter. They actually switch the I sound for a Y sound.

It's just bizarre and it's not how normal Irish people say it.

I find RTE settles on utterly weird and awkward sounding ways of saying things.

Also Ireland switched to metric speeds and distances and we should be saying these things in a colloquial and comfortable way as the Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians do.

The British often tend to speak about metric system things and "the European common currency" (the Euro to the rest of us) as if it's something that hurts their mouths and is so foreign it nearly causes nausea as it's just some awful Euro thing they instinctively dislike.

The Americans can be a bit like that too.

Ki-LOM-it-er works perfectly in Hiberno-English.

I just find the RTE way of sticking to some weird pronunciation that nobody uses is pedantic and puts a barrier between them and the audience.

It's basically patronising.

"The Department of FIH nance"
When everyone in Ireland and most standard English speakers actually say "Fi Nance" where the Fi sounds like pie.

I assume they've a "department of pedantic nonsense" in Montrose.

filbert the fox

StonyIron wrote: »

I speak French and it's not remotely pronounced like kylo -- meter. It's run together and the sounds slide together.

Also, we speak English, not French.

In English kilometre is usually pronounced ˈkɪləˌmiːtər

The one I keep hearing on RTE is "kylo" "meter". It's not even kilo meter. They actually switch the I sound for a Y sound.

It's just bizarre and it's not how normal Irish people say it.

I find RTE settles on utterly weird and awkward sounding ways of saying things.

Also Ireland switched to metric speeds and distances and we should be saying these things in a colloquial and comfortable way as the Australians, New Zealanders and Canadians do.

The British often tend to speak about metric system things and "the European common currency" (the Euro to the rest of us) as if it's something that hurts their mouths and is so foreign it nearly causes nausea as it's just some awful Euro thing they instinctively dislike.

The Americans can be a bit like that too.

Ki-LOM-it-er works perfectly in Hiberno-English.

I just find the RTE way of sticking to some weird pronunciation that nobody uses is pedantic and puts a barrier between them and the audience.

It's basically patronising.

"The Department of FIH nance"
When everyone in Ireland and most standard English speakers actually say "Fi Nance" where the Fi sounds like pie.

I assume they've a "department of pedantic nonsense" in Montrose.

Darren Frehill and his med.

"Brian Cody med important decisions....."

Tyre rone..

Ekkkksetera..... widespread on radio.

Millon


On the Kilometer I really wanted to highlight the fact that the lom in the middle is inaccurate as it's a kilo times meter ...
One doesn't hear - and thank goodness - the likes of the sound log in kilogram

or lol in kilolitre.

LOL

StonyIron

Eileen Dunne (at least I think that's who it is) tends to go to town on French origin words including:

"An 'otel" instead of "a hotel" (as we say in English)

spurious

She's correct with 'an hotel' though.

StonyIron

filbert the fox wrote: »

Darren Frehill and his med.

"Brian Cody med important decisions....."

Tyre rone..

Ekkkksetera..... widespread on radio.

Millon


On the Kilometer I really wanted to highlight the fact that the lom in the middle is inaccurate as it's a kilo times meter ...
One doesn't hear - and thank goodness - the likes of the sound log in kilogram

or lol in kilolitre.

LOL

The reason for that is because there are 3 syllables in kilometre vs 2 in kilogram. Irish and American English will both tend to say it the Kil-OM-eter way. Where as southern England will probably say kilo-meter.

The R in southern English disappears. It's pronounced hard in Irish and U.S. English. It's something known as Rhoticity in linguistics.

There's nothing wrong with either accent, it's just that Ireland has a rhotic accent and England doesn't. So imposing one on the other sounds weird.

In English one normally stresses the long vowel or the penultimate syllable.

Ki-ló-meter

In French the stress normally hits the last syllable (we also so that with some but not all French origin words)

So you'd get kilo-métre
French also doesn't really pronounce the -re as a syllable, it's rolled into the previous but so, it's a very different way of saying it to English.

Using the accent symbol to highlight stressed bit.

All I'm saying is that RTE should say things as they're said and not as they think they ought to be said.

They focus on a few weird words like that and then they have presenters using awful grammar and mispronouncing things all over the place.

I've heard the "River ThEYMez"... on "sah ur day"
"ChicaRgo" (where the chicks with the cars go?)
"Derby" (pronounced as written as opposed to Darby).

Someone was talking about weeky leaks as opposed to wiki.

And I remember when there were lots of stories about Haiti someone was calling it "hai eety"

They also constantly get verb/noun agreements wrong for collectives and just generally.

"The family were" (was)
"The government are" (is)

Load of other massive errors that are far worse too.

He "says" pronounced "says" instead of "sez" as is the norm in English.

The list is endless!

In general, the standard of grammar here is abysmal though. It's just that I would expect more from professionals in broadcasting.

Brendan Bendar

They auld reliables 'done' and 'seen' are still evident, Stony.

Mainly from contributors to discussions .

Grolschevik

spurious wrote: »

She's correct with 'an hotel' though.

Nope. Check the most recent edition of Fowler's.