A man and his sister
In the grand tradition of its time-honoured references to ‘a man and his wife’, The Times does it again, with yet another piece of choice phrasing that really reveals far too much about the way women are viewed in Maltese society, and the secondary status we women take to men in real life if not at law.
Two elderly siblings who live together were rescued by firemen today and the headline is:
MAN AND SISTER RESCUED FROM FIRE
Man and sister?
How about:
WOMAN AND BROTHER RESCUED FROM FIRE
But no, because two wrongs don’t make a right. What that title should have been is:
BROTHER AND SISTER RESCUED FROM FIRE
Not good either, because this makes it seem as though they were children.
So let’s get to the point, shall we?
ELDERLY SIBLINGS RESCUED FROM FIRE
They were in their 60s. And who gives a damn what gender they are – but if the sub is a real pain and stickler for detail in the title, then:
ELDERLY BROTHER AND SISTER RESCUED FROM FIRE
A man and his sister! Tsk tsk.
18 Comments Comment
Reply to Mercury Rising Click here to cancel reply
For once we agree on something! Some people really need to improve their vocabulary.
“Man and nun rescued from fire.” Tsk Tsk.
For a minute, thought the headline referred to Jose and Consuelo.
Same here.
Even more ridiculous:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130315/local/Internet-mobiles-growing.461562
And not far behind
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130315/local/BA-resign-letter-a-mistake-.461564
And the dorks still generally refer to Facebook as facebook.
Amazing I didn’t know that mobiles and internet had erections. Too good.
Facebook is generally written with a lowercase ‘f’ because of their logo I would assume.
Yes because basic English lessons were wasted on these people. All names must start with capital letters. The fact that a logo is stylised by using all lowercase is meaningless, by that criterion we should print out “Coca Cola” in the exact same font used in the logo.
Wasn’t trying to say that you’re wrong really.
A man and his dog.
The PBS actually referred to “zewg ahwa”, kudos to them.
Up until some two years ago I bought The Times every day. I stopped buying the daily edition because of their constant and obsessive coverage of the bus transport system.
The straw that broke the camel’s back and which made me stop buying even the Sunday edition was their ridiculous reporting of Labour’s energy policy in the first weeks of the election campaign.
At that point it became unequivocally evident that I was reading castrated journalism.
And when I say that the mentality towards women in Malta is Muslim, people think I’m trying to be funny.
‘siblings’? Dak x’jahbat?
The Times has been going downhill in the language department for years now. It has come to a point where one can find howlers like this in almost every article.
I remember a time when at school we were encouraged to read The Times and treat it as the gold standard of English expression.
Nowadays I wouldn’t recommend it as a bird-cage liner, let alone serious reading material.
I’m glad I don’t buy The Times any more.
Damn – they should have stuck to ‘Two people’, then give details later in the article.
Another piece of disgusting reporting from the Times.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130317/local/malta-s-roads-worse-than-those-in-malawi.461735