The Engine Room

What JD did next

2011-04-20T20:12:00.000+01:00

So I haven't written anything here on The Engine Room since last summer. That's because I've been working on a new site, Cathedral City Guide.

Why? Well, I was keen to build something in WordPress; my day job had moved almost totally away from subbing; and I wanted a new challenge. Most of all, my partner and I had visited half a dozen of England's medieval cathedral cities and we felt that collectively they deserved a website of their own.

I probably won't be updating The Engine Room in the foreseeable future but equally I'm not going to delete it. Thanks for all your photos, comments and emails - they were much appreciated.

Feel free to visit me at Cathedral City Guide or @cathedralcities on Twitter.

A tree is something resembling a tree

2010-06-02T21:00:00.000+01:00

Unlikely as it sounds, I recently got involved in a drunken discussion on the difference between a tree, a bush and a plant.

I Googled 'tree' on my smartphone and one of the first definitions I came across was:

Something constructed in the form of, or considered as resembling, a tree, consisting of a stem, or stock, and branches; as, a genealogical tree.

That's from the 1913 edition of Webster's.

Now I'm sober, I understand what the definition is driving at - that 'tree' is sometimes used metaphorically (or perhaps I mean analogously?).

But I have to say that defining a tree as something "in the form of... a tree" does not help resolve drunken arguments. And really, what else are dictionary definitions for?

I demand a recount

2010-05-31T21:28:00.001+01:00

The Engine Room didn't make it into bab.la and Lexiophiles' list of the 'Top 100 Language Blogs 2010', but if you voted for us then thank you.

Although the list is dominated by teaching and translation blogs (which usually hold no great interest for me), a few of my favourite blogs are present - including Fritinancy and Sentence first. Well done!

I'm going to propose to Sentence first that we form a coalition and introduce the alternative vote system. In the meantime, do check out this year's top 100.

What do you call it when... someone's visual identity is unknown?

2010-05-27T17:18:00.000+01:00

This query has been emailed into The Engine Room:

Is there a word which means that a person's visual identity is unknown? For example, the West End Whingers are often referred to as "anonymous" as people don't know what they look like. However, they are not anonymous as they really are called Phil and Andrew [the names given on the WEW website]. Is there a word for use in these circumstances?

Well, 'anonymous' comes from the Greek for 'nameless', whereas Phil and Andrew, I suppose, are faceless rather than nameless. However the OED defines faceless as "remote and impersonal", which isn't really what we're driving at. And whether it's true of the West End Whingers I wouldn't like to say!

Lots of other 'in-' or 'un-' words also spring to mind, such as 'incognito' or 'undisclosed', but none of them seem quite right. I imagine we're looking for another 'a-' word.

Any suggestions?

The bomb was placed in a taxi... twice

2010-05-24T19:00:00.000+01:00

Nothing very exciting today - just a bit of image and caption duplication I spotted on BBC News a while back:

I like capturing mistakes like these, not so I can feel smug, but because they are often corrected so quickly (especially on the BBC website).

Somehow their ephemeral nature makes me want to preserve them for posterity.

Word of the day: crashworthiness

2010-05-22T10:02:00.001+01:00

During my time working on B2B transport mags and now websites, I've come across some interesting transport-related words. 'Crashworthiness' is one of my favourites.

According to Wikipedia:

Crashworthiness is the ability of a structure to protect its occupants during an impact. This is commonly tested when investigating the safety of vehicles.

The OED online gives:

The quality in an aircraft or motor-vehicle that makes it safer in the event of a crash. So crashworthy a.

Its first quotation is from the Journal of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1948. Interesting that three of the OED's four quotations put crashworthiness in inverted commas.

A quick Google search brings up a publication called the International Journal of Crashworthiness - what a great title. It dates back to 1996.

'50 odd people are being killed every single day'

2010-05-19T16:59:00.001+01:00

According to BBC News (or more accurately, Pretoria News crime reporter Graeme Hosken), 50 odd people are killed every day in South Africa.

Sometimes it pays to be normal.

Absinthe friends

2010-05-17T19:44:00.010+01:00

Through Fuelmyblog I've had the chance to sample some absinthe from Absinthe-Shop. What's that got to do with language use and journalism? Well, I could mention the (tired) stereotype of hard-drinking journalists, or talk about the connection between absinthe and writers such as Arthur Rimbaud and Guy de Maupassant. But really, I just wanted to try the absinthe.

What I got to sample was La Clandestine, a Swiss 'la bleue' absinthe (which is neither blue, nor indeed green, but clear). It also came with a metal absinthe spoon:

Absinthe-Shop has this to say on the "traditional method" of preparing absinthe:

A 1 ounce / 30 ml measure (also known as a ‘dose’) of absinthe is poured into a glass. A flat, slotted spoon is placed across the rim of the glass and a sugar cube added on top of the spoon. Add — slowly — 3 to 5 parts iced water to the drink, pouring directly onto the sugar cube.

It emerges that in our modern society it is now harder to obtain sugar cubes than absinthe, so I had to use granulated sugar instead - which didn't work particularly well with the slotted absinthe spoon. (Talking of spoons, the next time you are in a greasy one, pocket a few sugar cubes. You never know when you might need them.)

Despite this hitch, the best part about drinking absinthe is the ritual. It's up there with making a pot of tea or brewing coffee with a French press - except more boozy.

For my girlfriend Sarah, who also took part in this madcap endeavour, the best part is watching the absinthe change colour. It starts off clear:

Then, when the water is poured in, the drink turns opaque (and yes, magically transforms one glass into two):

This process is called the louche.

So I'd better talk about the taste. We tried the absinthe both with and without sugar because bleue absinthes often have a natural sweetness (I was told in the tasting notes). And actually, that turned out to be true - the absinthe was not at all bitter unsweetened. Sarah did find that "the sugar took away the alcoholic hit at the back of your throat".

Despite being promised an array of herbal flavours, all I could taste was anise - probably because of my undeveloped absinthe palate. Having said that, Sarah and I both found the absinthe surprisingly smooth, and we agreed that we would rather drink La Clandestine than ouzo, say, or Pernod.

Plus, you don't get to use a slotted spoon with any of those lesser anise-flavoured drinks.

And no, it didn't send me crazy.

Engine Room readers who want to buy absinthe or absinthe accessories get 10% off at Absinthe-Shop until 30 June. The offer excludes items already on sale or discounted. Input this voucher code into the box on the My Cart page to apply: FMBLUV10

'Gravadlax'

2010-05-15T12:45:00.001+01:00

Celebrity chef Antony Worrall Thompson is a man of few words. One word, in fact - and that word is 'gravadlax'.

I spotted this on the BBC homepage a few days ago.

Yet more voting

2010-05-13T17:00:00.002+01:00

Last year The Engine Room took part in bab.la and Lexiophiles' 'Top 100 Language Blogs' competition, coming eighth in the 'Language Professionals' category and 45th overall.

The 2010 competition is now under way and the blog is competing in the same category as before. User votes count for 50% of the final score so please vote for us (well, me) using this button:

I'm not sure whether I'm even a "language professional" any more - probably not. But it's just a bit of fun - and a good way to discover some blogs.

Gordon Brown's legacy

2010-05-11T17:05:00.002+01:00

BBC News has been running a story titled 'What is Gordon Brown's legacy?':

Nothing, apparently.

Sparse but beautiful, like a good decaf

2010-05-09T17:36:00.003+01:00

Recently I bought a jar of Percol decaffeinated instant coffee (pictured below). On the back of the jar there's some blurb about ~~Columbia~~ Colombia, where the coffee is grown. I'm somewhat bemused by this sentence:

This landscape is sparse but beautiful in it's own way, like a good decaf.

Never mind the apostrophe - how can a coffee be "sparse but beautiful"? Sparse in flavour?

The coffee isn't bad, by the way, as instant decafs go.

'Both the good and decent people'

2010-05-07T08:53:00.004+01:00

This is what Labour MP Margaret Hodge had to say after BNP leader Nick Griffin came third in her constituency:

"This is really a great moment in our history, a never-to-be forgotten moment for both the good and decent people of Barking and Dagenham."

So there are only two good and decent people in Barking and Dagenham?

Why The Engine Room is a little quiet at the moment

2010-05-05T09:00:00.001+01:00

For the past few months I've had an idea brewing for a new site/blog (sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between the two), and I'm just starting to turn it into reality using WordPress. This is my first experience with WordPress, so even if my idea turns out to be a stinker at least I'll have learned something new.

I don't want to go into too many details just yet, but when I have something halfway complete then I'll share it here. In the meantime, I might blog a little less frequently - but that doesn't mean I'll appreciate your comments and contributions any less.

Cameron cocks up

2010-05-03T20:33:00.001+01:00

This picture of Conservative leader David Cameron went viral last week, but with election day on Thursday I think it's worth sharing:

Thanks to Gareth for sending me the photo, and Michael Schofield for taking it in the first place.

Only party X can stop party Y

2010-04-30T12:34:00.000+01:00

Yesterday a booklet came through the post titled "Election addresses by candidates for Mayor of Lewisham".

The election address by Conservative candidate Simon Nundy says: "Only the Conservatives can stop Labour on May 6th." (From context it is clear that he is referring to the mayoral election, not the general election.)

The election address by Liberal Democrat candidate Chris Maines says: "At the last Mayoral election, it was a close finish between the Lib Dems and Labour. This time, the Lib Dems are set to win."

So - only the Conservatives can stop Labour, but the Lib Dems are set to win? How does that work?

I feel strongly that political parties shouldn't be allowed to make statements such as 'only party X can stop party Y here' or, in effect, 'a vote for party Z is a wasted vote'. Such statements only serve to reinforce the status quo - they are self-fulfulling prophecies, not statements of fact.

Terms & conditions: Lorem ipsum

2010-04-27T17:19:00.001+01:00

So yesterday's Metro carried this advert for 'social music store' mflow. Have a look at the terms and conditions (and click on the image if you want to see a larger version):

Whoops! Terms and conditions are usually there because they have to be, so missing them off is worse than you might think.

An area equivalent to the size of Greece

2010-04-21T21:16:00.001+01:00

A recent BBC News article mentions "the discovery of a vast 'microbial mat', covering an area equivalent to the size of Greece".

It's unusual to see Greece used as a unit of comparison or measurement. I find it harder to gauge the area of Greece than, say, France, because of Greece's irregular shape and large number of islands. Or are we only talking about mainland Greece?

Interestingly, the country closest in size to Greece is England, with an area of 130,395km2 as opposed to Greece's 131,957km2.

So why didn't BBC News use England as a unit of comparison rather than Greece? I'm fairly sure that a) more British people will read the article in question than Greek people, and b) British people have a better idea of the area of England than the area of Greece.

Or would using England as a unit of comparison be more confusing to readers who are neither Greek nor British? When I taught English as a foreign language in Russia, many of my students were hazy on the difference between England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom.

Love grammar? Love Persian cats

2010-04-19T22:10:00.000+01:00

The Engine Room has been included on a list of the '50 Best Blogs for Grammar Geeks' on Universityreviewsonline.com.

For some reason the list falls into the website's archive for October 2005 - perhaps it is an old list that has just been updated?

Other entries on the same page of the archive include 'The Top 50 Wedding Planner Blogs' and '15 Tips on Caring for Persian Cats', which makes October 2005 a great month for engaged cat-owning grammarians looking for an online university.

Temporary waiting area

2010-04-18T13:50:00.002+01:00

Clutchslip spotted this sign to a "temporary waiting area":

What, as opposed to a permanent waiting area?

Show business

2010-04-17T23:03:00.002+01:00

So last week as part of my job I spent three days at a trade show - something of a novelty for me because I am usually office-based.

Another novelty was using Twitpic to share a few photos of the show on Twitter. Here's one of Bibendum - Michelin Man as he's more often known.

I also tried out TwitPict, an iPhone Twitpic client, which works well but adds '#TwitPict' to any tweets you send with it.

We had agreed on a hashtag to use before the show, but in the end it was only used by a few people on our team and maybe three non-journalists too. Not a total success. Incidentally, Hashtags.org is a useful website for tracking the popularity of individual hashtags.

What else? We produced a video news round-up of each day of the show, although my role there was limited to uploading it to the website (and appearing in the background of one of the videos for a minute or so). We also put the videos one our YouTube channel for good measure - oh, and embedded them in one of our blogs.

I even wrote a bit of copy - well, a few paragraphs - and subbed a couple of stories for good measure. I felt like a proper journalist for almost the first time since leaving the production desk.

Don't get me wrong: I enjoy my current role, but it has a bit too much of the technical (and increasingly, the commercial) to feel much like journalism.

Still, the show must go on.

What is happening to email?

2010-04-08T19:00:00.000+01:00

Something strange is happening to the way I use email.

Last week I sent someone a long, information-packed email that they had been expecting. I immediately followed this up with a direct message on Twitter letting them know that I had just sent the email.

Later on that evening I received a reply on Twitter thanking me for the information. There was no email reply.

Look at this another way. I have three email accounts that I use regularly: my work account, the Engine Room's own account, and a personal account I've held for about a decade. I now check the last of these around once a week, down from every day a few years back.

If I want to send a quick, casual message, I'll use Twitter; if I want to share a link, I'll use Delicious; if I want to pose an open question to some work colleagues, I'll use Yammer; if it's work-related but not pressing, I'll use LinkedIn; and so on. Email's role is becoming much more niche.

And that's strange, because email is ubiquitous: pretty much everyone who has uses the internet has an email address. Not everyone uses Twitter, or Delicious, or Google Wave, or any of these other fun forms of communication.

Comments?

Body lotion is like hand cream, but not

2010-04-06T19:17:00.003+01:00

At the weekend I met some friends in a slightly upmarket pub and was startled to see bottles of "body lotion" in the unisex toilet cubicles:

Handwash I could understand. You need to wash your hands; you use the handwash. But body lotion? Who would want to apply lotion to their bodies in a pub toilet? (Rhetorical question.)

I returned to my friends and said as much; the girls in the group laughed at me, and not for the right reasons. Apparently the body lotion is to apply to your hands after washing them, to moisturise them.

Surely that would be hand cream, I pointed out. But no - hand cream is more expensive than body lotion and has a different consistency.

So are there such things as hand lotion and body cream? Are they all types of moisturiser, or is moisturiser something else again? I think I'm going to stick to soap and water...

Sophie Dahl will make your candle fizz

2010-04-05T11:09:00.001+01:00

Visual metaphor of the week goes to the fizzing, spurting candles on TV cooking programme The Delicious Miss Dahl:

(The candles appear at about 15 minutes, 10 seconds in on episode two, 'Romance', which is available to watch on the BBC's iPlayer for the next month.)

Thousands 'to miss out on university degree'

2010-04-04T13:08:00.002+01:00

I thought this was a strange BBC News headline:

First, there are two orders of magnitude between "thousands" (headline) and "hundreds of thousands" (body copy). A quick play with Firebug suggests that "Hundreds of thousands 'to miss out on university degree'" would fit - just - as a headline, although I grant you that it's not particularly catchy.

Second, the story isn't that people will miss out on degrees - it's that they will miss out on university places altogether (although one tends to follow the other). To me, the headline as stands suggests that thousands of people currently at university will miss out on a degree. And while that's probably true, it's not reflective of the story.