the bendy yellow favourite
It does make me laugh when writers get so scared of repetition that they tie themselves up in knots trying to make sure they never use a word twice.
Thanks to this regime, we get “Sir Terry Leahy” in the first par, “the Tesco supremo” in the second, “the Cheshunt-based retail mogul” in the third and “the blue and white-striped king” in the fourth. You don’t want to know what he’s called in the final par, believe me.
Today, however, my eyes were opened anew. Subbing a feature about bananas (in which, I admit, there were multiple mentions of bananas), I discovered the following sentence:
She is also in discussions with Corbana about the possibility of setting up the country’s first university dedicated to the study of the concave fruit to help educate the next generation of producers.
The concave fruit? Oh my goodness!
On a different topic, the same feature also yielded the following two gems:
One in every four bananas unpealed in Britain comes from Costa Rica.
The facts: unpealed
I’m seeing bananas hanging silently from bell towers – once they rang proudly, but now their peals have been taken from them!
Ps. Today was the day I decided to take my email address off my site, following a series of emails ranging from the inappropriate to the unwelcome. It’s a shame, as I’ve also had several emails from people who genuinely have something to say and suggestions to make. So if you’re one of the latter, please don’t take it personally – you can always get me through Twitter, or leave a comment and I’ll mail you back.
