EurekAlert provides a sort of firehose feed of press releases, some of which contain really hilariously awkward phrases. This release about a graphene-based measurement of the fine structure constant is one of the all-time greats, though:
Prof Geim, who in 2004 discovered graphene with Dr Kostya Novoselov, a one-atom-thick gauze of carbon atoms resembling chicken wire, says: “Change this fine tuned number by only a few percent and the life would not be here because nuclear reactions in which carbon is generated from lighter elements in burning stars would be forbidden. No carbon means no life.”
I understand exactly how that sort of thing gets written, and I feel a little sorry for the press officer responsible. But mostly, I’m impressed by how much Dr. Novoselov has accomplished, given that he’s only one atom thick and resembles chicken wire…
Speaking of mistakes, you meant “constant” not “comment”, right? Heh, your Freudian slip is showing, how ironic.
Yes, I have seen this sort of thing quite often in newspapers (much less often elsewhere.) What bothers me more is the apparently deliberate sloppy usage of “all Xs are not blank” when the speaker is clearly trying to say what should be phrased as, “not all Xs are blank.” That is an ever-more common mistake of logical framing, and they don’t mean the same thing.
Finally, about the fine structure “comment”: someone pls. check the paper from the following site (http://chip-architect.com/news/2004_10_04_The_Electro_Magnetic_coupling_constant.html) and tell me if the author is really deriving alpha a priori from a mathematical process, or just reinforcing the value already known somehow. I just don’t get the “So your point is ….?” here.
Every implementation of language but one is a legitimate expression of the user’s thoughts. The only unforgiven misuse of language is strict grammar enforcing historic patriarchal White Protestant European oppression of Peoples of Colour. DIVERSITY!
Ebonics be good. Rhetoric is obscenely abusive. “Inert intelligence is the paradigm of institutional racism,” UC/Berkeley, Boalt School of Law. Uncle Al was in the audience when it came screeching down from the dias.
The SAT essay section is not graded upon content or even coherence. If the grading rules are met full credit is awarded. Management is about process not product.
I remember when i was a young child, having a Great-Uncle was a one-atom-thick gauze of carbon atoms resembling chicken wire.
Didn’t see him much. Of course these days nobody would care but back then it just wasn’t the sort of thing you talked about in polite company.
Speaking of mistakes, you meant “constant” not “comment”, right? Heh, your Freudian slip is showing, how ironic.
That’s in keeping with the Iron Laws of the Internet, one of which says that any post commenting on a grammar error or typo must itself contain a grammar error or typo.
Fixed now.
But surely it’s Professor Geim who’s one atom thick, judging by the use of commas, isn’t it?
Ian, no, I don’t think so. Things set off by commas after a noun ought to be parenthetical & removable statements about the preceding noun. Like footnotes. Thus,
I think the easiest way to fix this sentence would be to split it into two. (To my eye the overall structure of the press release is confusing, but perhaps it follows an expected pattern among press release readers.)
Dr Kostya Novoselov, a one-atom-thick gauze of carbon atoms resembling chicken wire
Perchance does Dr. Novoselov sometimes publish under the pseudonym “A. Square”? 😉
Let’s hope Dr. Novoselov has lots of money, to provide a full test case of the maxim that one can never be too rich or too thin.
Chad –
You’re right – there are two sets of commas. I wasn’t paying sufficient attention. Do I have graphene on my face! Now I’m trying to figure out if I might be a carbon copy of Dr Kostya Novoselov….
Ian, do you have more graphene on your face for mistaking me for Chad? =>
Reminds me of the time back in the 1970s when Al Vellucci, then mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts, wanted to ban genetic engineering research in the city limits. (We all know how that ended.) Time magazine ran this story with two photos; one was a photo of Mayor Vellucci, and the other a micrograph of E. coli cells conjugating.
The caption: “Vellucci and bacteria undergoing natural exchange of genetic material.”
I told a friend about this and his reaction was, “Being only one atom thick and resembling chicken wire would be an awesome super power.”
I like this name better: Hartman’s law of prescriptivist retaliation.