There’s an excellent post here from The Stroppy Editor (@SnoozeinBrief on Twitter), on how the TV series 24 could be improved if its stars were sub-editors. I’ve never seen 24, so I will now always imagine it this way, and probably be very disappointed if I ever watch the real version.
An extract (but you should go and read the whole thing):
Tony: The war on terrorism was a mistake, Jack.
Jack: How can you say that?
Tony: We were wrong! Whatever way you cut it, it’s a category mistake that should never have made it past our first review. You can’t go to war against an abstract noun, it doesn’t make any sense.
Jack: Tony, what’s happened to you? I know you’ve had it tough, but surely you still know that the war’s against not an abstract noun but the concrete activity it denotes? And that ‘war’ here is metaphorical, suggesting a sustained effort only partly consisting of military actions but no less resolutely pursued?
