This sentence is not modelled on a luxury yacht
11 January 2008
Filed under Language, Text, The Media
People paid up to $US100,000 ($A115,000) for the inaugural Singapore Airlines A380 flight last year, in which first class suites with real beds were modelled on luxury yachts, after wiring glitches caused the plane’s delivery to be delayed by two years, causing EADS billions of dollars in losses.
This sentence was already too long when they decided to add the bit about the beds. Why on earth is it relevant, when reporting on an airport mishap, to note that the beds on the plane involved were modelled on luxury yachts?*
It’s a really common construction in stories coming straight off the wires and into the paper: you have the story, which is usually two or three short paragraphs, followed by a gargantuan sentence into which somebody has packed the entire history of the subject, with no regard to whether the clauses in the sentence relate to each other or to the story at large.
* Update: I can’t read.
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Views from the Floor
Peter says:
That's a nice photo. For me, however, it's a depressing one. I don't like autumn; it means that summer is ending and that, shudder, winter is on the way. There's nothing better than knowing that shorts and a tshirt will be enough to get you through the day and night, and that shoes are an optional extra. Long live summer!
Khoi Vinh says:
That is a nice photo. Is there a semantic link between the skipping girl and vinegar that we might not know about in North America? I kind of hope there isn't, as I think there's a certain poetry to how illogical the juxtaposition is.
Virginia says:
Somewhat unromantically, but semantically, it's a brand (long defunct). It's heritage-listed, I believe, so although she no longer skips neonly, she's preserved in her confused three-ropes-at-once state for ever. I hope.
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