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We are in a rather curious position in Singapore whereby the General Elections this year could become a referendum on the performance of individual Ministers. There exists in Commonwealth countries and more particularly in the United Kingdom, the convention of Ministerial Responsibility. The basic premise of the convention is that Ministers are individually accountable to Parliament for their personal conduct, the policies they device and the failures of their respective Ministries. This accountability manifests itself in the form of Parliamentary scrutiny and questioning and often calls for Ministers to demonstrate such responsibility and accountability by resigning from their posts. This would often depend on the severiity of the Ministerial failing. Three ministers in Singapore could be said to be in line to be held accountable for policy failings or mismanagement: Wong Kan Seng, Mah Bow Tan and Vivian Balakrishnan. Their respective failings in terms of the Mas Selamat escape,...

Spot the mistake in the picture above and win the respect of your peers! (Cheeky jokes about my favourite Beatle and one of the greatest living drummers will result in immediate disqualification ;).

I must say that Low Thia Khiang is really good with his imagery. His driving analogy started sheepishly by likening the opposition to a spare tyre. But, the truth is that in political terms an opposition should not merely be a spare tyre. I would characterise the parts of the vehicle as procedural safeguards in the system of governance. Shanmugam was quick to pick up on the analogy and pointed out that in fact what the opposition wants to do is to become the co-driver. But, the analogy came unstuck. He suggested that the co-driver would tussle for the wheel. Wouldn’t that be unsafe for both the driver and the co-driver? Why would the opposition want the country to crash? That would be suicidal. So, Low Thia Khiang’s rebuttal at last night’s rally using the same analogy was simply brilliant and to really add sting to it he threw in a slap. "Bear in mind that just putting on a safety belt and hope that the driver will drive you to your destination is not enough. A co-drive...

  (L) A floral motif. (R) A floral motive.  Now here’s an interesting thing – using motive when motif is the word we want. It doesn’t happen all that often – and I’ve never seen it happen the other way around – but it’s happened often enough over the years that we can see it’s a definite sore spot that needs some soothing Bad Article cream gently applied to it. Definitions first of all, and at first glance they’re nice and simple: motive   (n) what induces a person to act in a particular way. motif   (n) 1) theme that is repeated and developed in an artistic work. 2) decorative design or pattern. 3) ornament sewn separately on a garment. Now let’s play Good Cop/Bad Cop: Bad Cop: 1a) Our summer collection is enhanced by a striking floral motive . 2a) The first few notes of Beethoven’s legendary Moonlight Sonata form a recurring motive throughout the piece. Good Cop: 1b) Our summer collection is enhanced by a striking floral motif . 2b) The first few not...

Low Thia Khiang, looking like a brilliant general, gave a press conference after filing his nomination papers at Aljunied GRC. Nobody expected him to venture out of Hougang SMC. That’s his fortress. That’s where he has built up loyal support. His decision to cross over to Aljunied GRC has caught everyone by surprise. This decision could turn out to be his masterstroke in what many of us are expecting to be a watershed election for the opposition in Singapore. If we assume Potong Pasir to be a safe zone and Hougang to similarly be a safe zone for the opposition, this huge gamble by him to cross over into Aljunied could finally win a GRC for the opposition. That would be 4 seats from Aljunied for a minimum of 6 opposition MPs in Parliament. It would inflict a major defeat on the PAP even though, to be honest, it in no way breaks PAP’s overwhelming control of Parliament. We would perceive this to be a major defeat because losing that GRC would involve the loss of two Cabinet Mini...

Hello again friends! How was your Easter break? Full of good things, I hope. Well, we’re back from our little English trip, and thank God too, because Polska is where I like to be, i dzięki Bóg że jestem polakiem! ;) We were staying down in Cornwall, in the south-west of the country. This part of England is the home of one of (broadly speaking) the two ancient, founding languages of modern Britain. I’m talking about Brythonic (Celtic), which loosely speaking covers ancient English, Cornish and Welsh. The other is, of course, Goidelic (Gaelic), which stems from the Gaels who populated Ireland, Scotland and various associated parts. The Cornish are a very distinct peoples amongst the British tribes, and their melodic, lilting accent is unlike any other. The ‘West Country’ (Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset) is largely agricultural, their farmers once supplying the majority of Britain’s food (before quotas and EECs and EUs and various insane post-war government decisions). Cornwall ha...

Ms Indranee Rajah made a rather curious assertion in the course of her attack on the WP’s slogan to create a First World Parliament. She wants to convey the impression that with a strong opposition in parliament, policies may be blocked. This is echoed by the Law minister Mr Shanmugam as well. He says that what WP really wants to do is ‘to block constitutional amendments. They will also block other policies they disagree with.” I’ll leave aside the main bone of contention in the to-and-fro between the WP and the PAP over WP’s slogan. But, an impression being given to the electorate is that a first world parliament as envisaged by the WP would involve the opposition effectively blocking government policies. Let’s get this clear. If the PAP won 50 seats in this election and the opposition gets the remaining 37 seats, then any Bill tabled by the PAP will still get passed because it has the simple majority. No policy proposal is going to be blocked as the PAP has a majority. The g...

Introduction In the late noughties whether I was reading the latest Riptide magazine , the Salt blog, or competition results, Vanessa Gebbie's name kept appearing. In 2007 alone she was 1st in the Daily Telegraph's Novel prize, 1st in Exeter University's Paddon Award, 2nd in the Bridport, 2nd in the Fish Short Story Prize and 2nd in FlashQuake's "Less is More" competition. Since then she's written/edited a few books. As if that wasn't enough, she's had poetry successes too (2 poems short-listed in the Bridport 2010 competition). She's keen to share what she's learnt (and still learning) via blogs and workshops - she's a busy (and I suspect excellent) teacher and judge. Her pieces are of course good reads, but I also think they're particularly useful for aspiring writers to learn from. Though it's unlikely that our stories would be mistaken for each other's, many of her stories are what I'd like to write - she ...

So, here we are. Parliament has been dissolved. Polling day is on May 7. 5 years on from the last elections, there is something in the air. The country is stirring in a way that is unusual. There is more coverage about the elections in the mainstream media. The MSM is not exactly neutral but it is definitely not taking as harsh a stance as it used to in relation to the opposition. There is still the indication of partiality in the way newspaper and television reports are slanted. PN Balaji noted recently that there seems to be a certain openness in the MSM. He used the term Orchid Evolution. It is kind of catchy. I wonder if it would catch on. People seem restless. The number of people defending PAP fiercely seems to have dwindled. More people appear to express unhappiness. The single biggest grouse appears to be immigration. Ironically, whilst I am happy about the anti-PAP sentiment that seems to be growing I am not exactly thrilled about immigration as the reason for t...

Hail to thee, friends. Just a short note today to say that the Article will be on holiday from Monday to Monday. I'm taking the Small Proofreaders back to the other half of their ancestral lands to visit 'anglik babcia' for a week.  We'll keep an eye out for anything that might be amusing or interesting for us all here back home, and perhaps do a fun little review of it when we get back next week. In the mean time, please all enjoy the week, have a very happy wielkanoc with lots of białą kiełbasy, gruby jaj and good vodka with your families and friends. And remember, the most important thing: CHARGE MORE FOR ANY WORK TAKEN OVER THE EASTER WEEKEND! We're not in this business for our health! Sto lat, Jim :)

I have a friend back in London who always used to greet me and ask, ‘What’s up with you people?’, or ‘What about you people, what are you doing on Saturday?’. This happened whether or not I was actually with anyone else at the time, and even when in company, the appellation ‘you people’ always amused me. This was years ago, but even now I still remember this bit of phrasing and use it myself sometimes. So in honour of this old friend, we’re going to look at people and persons today. Persons is something that I only occasionally see, possibly because the context for it isn’t all that common, or possibly because of some larger cosmic reason I’m not privy to. Either way, when I do see it (in a Pl>En translation, of course), it’s often being used instead of people . Examples: 1a) There were no more than ten persons left by the end of his speech. 1b) There were no more than ten people left by the end of his speech. 2a) Although it was seen to be an unpopular move by the...

I've just this second read one of my favourite 'mistakes' ; the use of evidence in the plural ( evidences ). This is very, very common, and I can rely on seeing it at least 8 times out of every 10 that the word occurs in any form. If I had a złotówka for every time it came up... (insert contrary joke here ;). Fortunately, the solution is simple: 1) Never ever write evidences . 2) Always check that the surrounding sentence structure matches its correct use as a mass (uncountable) noun. 3) Pour yourself a drink, smile contentedly, take a sip. OED Summary: evidence (mass noun): He gave evidence to the court. evidence (verb with object): The quality of the photography, as evidenced by her use of light, is outstanding. as a phrase: in evidence - His acting skills are still very much in evidence. Examples, Good and Bad: 1a) On the sides of the unit, evidences of leakage were found 1b) On the sides of the unit, evidence of leakage was found. 2a) The festival is regularly repor...

Hail Translator, well met! Today I'd like to take a moment to just knock heads with you about a couple of things to do with this here bloggy. At the bottom of the page I've added a poll, with about a year's worth of time on it to vote. I'm asking you for feedback on the way I write about the 'issues', the actual technical stuff we discuss here. I'm aware that some translators, or maybe most, like their explanations to be fully and properly presented using all the right technical lingo for explaining language issues. Crazy, mind-rending terms like conjugation , adjective , cas e , third-person singular and other lunatic dream-speak . So, to get to the point, I'm also aware that I tend to avoid a lot of this where necessary. To me, this means that certain really gruby, soczysty issues get delayed for ages because my research time for our blog articles is often quite limited. I've been working mostly from existing notes so far, but there are things we ...

appreciate 1a) The movie has already been appreciated by both critics and cinema-goers. 1b) The movie has already been acclaimed by both critics and cinema-goers. 1c) The movie has already been lauded by both critics and cinema-goers. 1d) The movie has already been applauded by both critics and cinema-goers. Much like offer , appreciated is one of those all-purpose, one-word-does-all jobs that is over-used in our En translations. Possibly it is a much more flexible and versatile word in Polish, but in English it is rather more specific and has a much more limited use, particularly as here, in its past-tense form. (1b, c, d) are all great synonyms, but note that (1c) can (but not strictly) have a slightly more official meaning, in that our film may have won some prizes or something. cooperate An old favourite, and as with all these funky things, it can never be repeated too often or stressed too much: cooperate is over-used, and also has certain undesirable...

I wrote this a decade ago. I've updated the references section and have added one 2011 medical quote. I know I should add more, but I'm still thinking about it ... Three strands of scientific research are rapidly encroaching on aesthetics Evolutionary psychology is being used to explain some of our aesthetic tastes. Typical of such arguments is the assertion that the interest in certain curves is explained by noting that a man looking for a mate would be programmed to notice such things. Alongside such discussion are observations of universals in aesthetic tastes. Proportions like the "Golden Mean" have been shown to crop up in many circumstances - for instance as the ratio between the octet and sestet of a sonnet. Work in complexity theory is beginning to explain these apparent coincidences. A third factor relates to advances in physiology; the ability to study brain activity in real time using MRI. Such discussion is not without its critics - the conclusions are ...

Good weekend to you, fellow wordsmiths. Won't you take a moment to join me in looking both ways before crossing the weekend road to next week? It's been fairly quiet around these parts; illnesses fading, Small Proofreaders playing quietly together with their klocki. All in all, a rare blessing indeed. The one thing of related interest that did come up was a rather depressing negotiation with a client about a very large, very ongoing job which we're ploughing through as we speak and will probably keep us busy until autumn.  Despite this being our third year together working for this end client, it turns out now  that my mostly monolingual-but-bilingual-where-necessary proofreading on this project is being monolingually proofread again by the agency, then passed to the client for final approval before being deemed as payable.  Now, all of this is understandable - to an extent. You expect the agent to look over your work again themselves, it's common sense. But they're...

Three random things I've seen so far today:  (1) Using the wrong type of person in the wrong place (possibly at the wrong time too, but that would make it a Bruce Willis film). Here are the correct associations (with some bonus info): theatres and cinemas attract audiences . They stage plays and screen or show films (respectively), each of which are based on scripts , sporting events , (everything from football matches to the Olympics) have spectators , events , spectacles * draw crowds , music festivals , rock / pop etc concerts – crowds, opera halls , symphonies – also audiences.   Note the action verbs – theatres stage plays; cinemas show films (at film festivals and certain other competitive or unique events, like Kraków’s awesome Film Music Festivals , they’re called screenings ). * Calling something a spectacle is really quite archaic, I mean like we’re going back to e19 or whenever it was coined and put in the dictionary. For any spectacles you...