We mark the start of the silly season with a return visit to that refreshingly self-critical column in The Guardian newspaper, Corrections and Clarifications. There, readers' editor Siobhain Butterworth fesses up to "significant errors" that have shown up in recent issues.
What we find most instructive (and often entertaining) are the homophonic errors that she dutifully collects and corrects under the heading Homophone Corner. Here are some of the sound-alike gaffes that have appeared in The Guardian over the past year.
- No Yoke
Vere "Papa" Bird had steered [Antigua] to independence from Britain in 1981 and was at that time revered on the island for having shaken off the imperial yolk" (Islanders count cost of billionaire's collapsed empire, 21 February, page 18).
(corrected Feb. 24, 2009) - Unfazed Rephrased
"Unphased by Mr Netanyahu, neither the president nor his secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, shows any sign of dropping their demand for a settlement freeze" (Getting the right audience, 1 June, page 26).
(corrected June 5, 2009) - Formerly a Virgin
"Absolute Radio, formally Virgin Radio, dominated the headlines last week after losing nearly 20% of its audience" (Go figure, 2 February, page 6, Media).
(corrected Feb. 6, 2009) - Cleansing Palates
"In France . . . mixing red and white is seen as heresy that risks flooding the market with cheap wine, wrecking consumers' pallets . . ." (Just mix red and white and you'll be in the pink, 17 March, page 22).
(corrected Mar. 18, 2009) - Not Very Discrete
"As Stratford's much-polluted site is cleaned up and the Olympic Park takes shape, local community leaders look to five discreet aspects of legacy" (Gold medal for political optimism, 11 February, page 13).
(corrected Feb. 14, 2009) - Retching Over the Wretch
A column lamented Nazi-inspired culture in the cinema world and elsewhere (It's all just Hitler porn, 23 April, page 9, G2). "It makes me want to wretch," it said. Retch, rather.
(corrected Apr. 27, 2009) - A Misstep Foreword
"The thoughtful Mr Straw wrote the forward to a recent collection of essays on penal reform..." (Straw man, page 32, October 28).
(corrected Nov. 4, 2008) - Stepping on Toes
As chief whip for Labour, Nick Brown believes, we said, that "MPs who don't tow the party line should not be allowed on select committees" (Mr Nice Guy asked to deliver the undeliverable, 6 May, page 6).
(corrected May 8, 2009) - Rain, Reign, and More Rein
"It makes a nice change in our youth-obsessed culture to watch a load of actors who've earned their stripes being given free reign and a heavyweight script." (Northern exposure, 28 February, page 4, The Guide)
(corrected Mar. 9, 2009) - Quaffers United
"West Ham players ... were spotted in the upmarket West End nightclub Movida coiffing champagne" (Spirits high at West Ham, page 2, Sport, November 28).
(corrected Nov. 29, 2008)
Our thanks to Siobhain Butterworth and The Guardian for setting things strait--er, straight.
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