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Pedants' corner

Hang your heads in shame, Channel 5

(53 Posts)
MawtheMerrier Thu 15-Sep-22 17:15:08

Well done!
Channel 5 news has just referred to the Quern’s “private internment” (sic) on Monday.
Makes me wonder what they think the internment camps in N Ireland were all about.
Oh dear, red faces all round.

MawtheMerrier Wed 21-Sep-22 11:42:01

Thank you for confirming that - it was my thinking too, but I thought a Dimbleby would have got it right!

SueDoku Wed 21-Sep-22 11:38:36

Well, I too have heard 'coronated' (3 times). But the piece of information that has me shouting at the telly was given twice - and once by David Dimbleby, who really should know better - and was that the Imperial State Crown (the one on the coffin) was the crown placed on the Queen's head at the Coronation - when it looks nothing like St Edward's Crown, which has crowned every monarch since Charles II..!
That one weighs twice as much - which is why it's usually replaced by the ISC shortly after the new monarch is crowned, and why the ISC is worn to open Parliament etc. - but it definitely isn't the crown that is used to actually crown the new king or queen.

Jaxjacky Fri 16-Sep-22 14:58:37

Ah well, when it’s all robots human error will be long gone, no more pesky people involved in front of or behind camera.

Callistemon21 Fri 16-Sep-22 14:17:36

MissAdventure

Oh, hark at David a
Attenborough. grin

wink

grandtanteJE65 Fri 16-Sep-22 13:56:57

MawtheMerrier

Don’t you think so-called professionals should at least be able to do their job competently?

Yes, Maw, I do!

Witzend Thu 15-Sep-22 23:48:56

We were in the US when the news broke (still are) where it was massive front page news the day after. One newspaper (IIRC the Boston Globe) reported that the Queen had been ‘coronated’ in 1953.
I like to think that it would have amused her!

MissAdventure Thu 15-Sep-22 23:25:22

Oh, hark at David a
Attenborough. grin

Callistemon21 Thu 15-Sep-22 23:20:52

MawtheMerrier

Katek

Coronate is shown as the verb “to crown” in the OED although it does state its use is rare.

Indeed it does but in a specific context in Biology

^Coronate” is improperly derived from “coronation,” but “crown” is the original and still standard form of the verb. But don't be in too big a hurry to declare that there is “no such word”: “coronate” means “crown-shaped,” and has various uses in biology^

Coronated tree frogs look as if they are wearing a crown.

Blossoming Thu 15-Sep-22 23:13:40

I think you mean a transcriber Fleur. A transcriptor is a transistor-like device composed of DNA and RNA, used in turntables. smile

MawtheMerrier Thu 15-Sep-22 22:36:34

Katek

Coronate is shown as the verb “to crown” in the OED although it does state its use is rare.

Indeed it does but in a specific context in Biology

Coronate” is improperly derived from “coronation,” but “crown” is the original and still standard form of the verb. But don't be in too big a hurry to declare that there is “no such word”: “coronate” means “crown-shaped,” and has various uses in biology

Katek Thu 15-Sep-22 22:28:47

Coronate is shown as the verb “to crown” in the OED although it does state its use is rare.

JackyB Thu 15-Sep-22 22:10:36

Elizabeth27

Jeremy Vine was saying ma’am rhyming with harm rather than ham on Channel 5 this morning.

I think I'm right in that the correct form of address was "Your Majesty" and thereafter "ma'am".

My question now is: What do we use for a King, should we ever meet him? "Sir"? "Sire"?"Guv'ner"?

Fleurpepper Thu 15-Sep-22 22:01:14

Indeed. And yes, missed that it was on 'pedant's corner' - it is.

Cabbie21 Thu 15-Sep-22 21:59:17

I heard internment too. And coronated. So many gaffes, incorrect statements, errors.
I actually feel a bit sorry for some of these inexperienced young journalists obliged to fill in hours and hours of time waffling away on TV.

Riverwalk Thu 15-Sep-22 21:46:22

It's only an extra N but does completely change the meaning of the word, so it's fair game for a new thread, in Pedants' Corner.

Fleurpepper Thu 15-Sep-22 21:35:07

Fair enough. All I am saying is that maybe you had misheard as it is very close. But even then, as said, they have been talking off the cuff for days now- and mistakes do happen. So, perhaps the mistake was double, perhaps not. I did not hear it myself, nor read it- was only trying to understand what could have happened.

Does it matter enough for a new thread? I personally don't think so in the grand scale of things.

MawtheMerrier Thu 15-Sep-22 21:34:30

Fleurpepper

Oxford Languages ·
/ɪnˈtəːm(ə)nt/

noun
noun: interment; plural noun: interments

the burial of a corpse in a grave or tomb, typically with funeral rites.
"the day of interment"

I think we are agreed as to the meaning of interment and also internment -one applies to the dead - buried, interred and the other the imprisonment of the living. As I said re the N Ireland internment camps.
I cannot imagine why this has become so complicated just because I pointed out that Channel5 had been guilty of a malapropism.

MawtheMerrier Thu 15-Sep-22 21:30:03

As you say Whatever.
All I am saying is that the reporter said "internment"
Subsequently (as is the style of Channel5) they repeated the gaffe in a "headline "as "internment".
I do have perfectly adequate hearing and can also read!
Why (but you don't have to bother to answer) can't you accept that they used the wrong word both in speech and writing.
(However there seem to be enough people who either don't know the difference or don't care.)

Fleurpepper Thu 15-Sep-22 21:19:38

Oxford Languages ·
/ɪnˈtəːm(ə)nt/

noun
noun: interment; plural noun: interments

the burial of a corpse in a grave or tomb, typically with funeral rites.
"the day of interment"

Fleurpepper Thu 15-Sep-22 21:17:24

MawtheMerrier

Fleurpepper

MawtheMerrier

Fleurpepper

Internment instead of 'interment'

so probably someone's typo rather than mistake in speech.

Hate to bang on but they said it then it appeared on the screen as a sort of headline - so written as well.

Yes, which is why I clearly said it was probably a typo - but not a speech mistake.

Oh I despair - spoken by the journalist first then written

Do despair away if you wish. My explanation was clear enough- and the description of 'interment' straight from the Dictionary.

Interment is not the same as internment- so they probably said the first, and some transcriptor got it wrong. Whatever!

Riverwalk Thu 15-Sep-22 21:12:00

I swear I've heard 'casket' three times today shock

sodapop Thu 15-Sep-22 20:53:52

kircubbin2000

Someone just told me there's no affluent in our river.

That's good Kircubbin it won't effect anyone then - another pet hate.

MawtheMerrier Thu 15-Sep-22 20:37:21

Clarity at last!

MarleneOnTheWall Thu 15-Sep-22 20:33:04

The Oxford English Dictionary has only one definition of internment:

The action or practice of confining a person or thing within the limits of a country or place; (now esp.) detention without trial for political or military reasons; the fact or condition of being detained in this way.

It gives many examples of use over 150 years and none relates to death or burial.

The OED definition of interment:

The action of interring or burying in the earth; burial.

This from Co-op Funeral Care:

What is the interment of ashes?

Interment of ashes refers to the process where cremation remains are placed in a permanent resting place. These range from dedicated family plots and cemeteries to private gardens and woodlands.

In summary: Internment in the confinement of a living person. Interment is the resting place of a person’s remains.

paddyann54 Thu 15-Sep-22 20:00:07

I always believed it was interned if it was above ground in a mausoleum or crypt.My OH 's best friend is a funeral director and thats what he calls it.I must tell him GN says he's wrong ,well his business has only existed for 70+ years ,so what would he know .
Burial =underground,Internment =inside a building in a graveyard or church crypt or cremation =burnt.