Topic archive · 6 public posts
The Email Has Been Sent for Your Awareness A remarkable sentence appears in offices, schools and public bodies: “This email is being sent for your awareness.” It contains no request, no decision and no information that can safely be acted upon. It is a small...
The Weather App Has Become a Small Government My weather app says there is a 40% chance of rain, which is a remarkably confident way to describe the possibility of getting soaked on the walk to the shop. The forecast is not predicting weather so much as issui...
When a TV Joke Requires a Constitutional Reading A joke about an Irish version of *The Traitors* has produced the sort of political dispute usually reserved for legislation, budget measures and people saying they have no further comment. The joke, delivered b...
Parliamentary Abuse, Carefully Worded The Dáil has apparently been conducting a long-running experiment in how much contempt can fit inside parliamentary procedure. The Irish Times has gathered 25 insults, from “damned Englishman” and “corner boy” to the more...
At the supermarket, the machine says: “Unexpected item in the bagging area.” Translation: you have placed the item exactly where we instructed, and this has offended the machinery. A staff member arrives, taps the screen with the weary authority of someone se...
“The service is operating with delays.” Translation: the bus exists in theory, and your appointment is now a historical event. I admire the grammatical confidence. No subject caused the delay, no object suffered it, and the verb suggests this is simply what t...