h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The theory advanced above about xenophobia being the cause of sports teams adopting absurd animalistic names is an interesting one, and undoubtedly true in many cases. However, I feel that it should be noted that this can happen for other reasons.
In the English Rugby League, for instance, teams that had existed for decades with sensible, dignified names were transformed into Bradford Bulls, Castleford Tigers, Hull Sharks etc. not by xenophobia but by another major blight on humanity: Rupert Murdoch.

Let's call him Rupert the Bear then ... or something else like that.

I can think of plenty of good names for Mr Murdoch. I'd better not write them here though, because h2g2 is a family site.

Come now! That didn't stop our rantings about how wonderful Mrs. Thatcher is!

It could only take someone of Mr. Murdoch's abilities to completely denigrate British rugby as he has done our media. I just adore the way our politicians suck up to him at election time....

Look at the way he raises xenophobia against the French in his daily rags over the export of British beef. Personally, I don't blame 'em and even my hubby who sometimes appears to dislike anything north of Watford and south of Dover, agrees with the French and won't touch British beef with a bargepole.

OK Gwennie -
Rupert Murdoch is the world's worst pusher of the drug known as bigotry. His tabloid papers give the saddest, dimmest semi-literate lifeforms on Earth delusions of adequacy. He has lowered the tone of the entire planet. He and Thatcher are the only humanoids whose deaths I plan to celebrate.
Is that better? It's certainly heartfelt.

Much better! Well done. I couldn't have worded it better myself...

I might have added something about Maggie & Rupert being the first against the wall when the revolution comes (no blindfold or last cigarette either) but then with this present Government, I don't think the revolution will be coming.... Still, the mere thought is amusing!

If I am not wrong, Rupert the large, fuzzy but musty carnivore is not the only person responsible for bringing the level of written communication down to pre-school (or business TV news) level - many papers in Canada have met this demise due to another dude.

One of the better written papers in N. America is "The Weekly World News" - this week we learn that the world will end on New Year's. Also I do remember some articles about Pres. Bush playing golf with aliens (they had photos to prove it), and a boy who ate a tree seed and grew a sapling up his throat - again with a photo of a kid with a branch coming out of his mouth as evidence.

Still our National "Globe and Mail" has just gone halfway tabloidy - but they haven't got the hang of putting semi-naked women on the cover - I do not have the heart to cancel my subscription until after Xmas - the delivery boy might get upset, and he's not to blame.

I have given up writing to the local paper's editor to insist that papers should use literate journalists( who know when to use "for" instead of "to", etc., and form a sentence with subject, object, verbs, adjectives, not to use nouns as verbs, etc.). This is just fodder for my observations of perverted English I am trying to collect (even on my home page).

I think as long as their circulation figures are up and they're scraping in huge of amounts of dosh, these editors and owners of such rags will ignore little non-entities such as us. We should hit 'em where it hurts (circulation) and start our own paper....and television station.....and everything! Sorry - I'm getting carried away (in my straight jacket).

One international mainstream (only?) that has not been infected yet is "The Economist", which I can read without scratching my head or swearing to tell the editor off, or stop buying it. I can read the magazine and understand stuff - this is good.

Fortunately in Canada we also get French language TV stations. My French is not very good at all, but I enjoy them more, and can understand them better than garbled english-like language. The worst TV here is "business news" these programs attempt to explain such obvious concepts that are common in business, but have to make it sound important, or themselves really "smart" (because if you don't understand, they must be smarter than you). This is done by totally butchering the language and coming up with ridiculous phrases for trivia. Unfortunately this is so pervasive, I am sure that it is now a plague in higher education, these people are a product of it, and will produce a worse next generation of incomprehensible "business" people (I am a person involved in "business" and I think it is important to be clear in communication above most other things).

Oooooo...."Economist"......heavy going for little moi! I confess to only listening to the BBC business reports (I'm constantly listening to BBC Radio 4 or 5 when there's nothing of interest on 4 and BBC World Service which is mumbling in the background right now as it is 5.00 a.m. here and Radio 4 doesn't "kick off" until 05.40.

I don't buy newpapers as a rule mainly because I never get to finish reading them but I do splash out on "Private Eye" which is published bi-weekly (it's a satirical expose of the powers that be) and is most enjoyable. They have a web site so why not pop along to it and have a peek (www.private-eye.co.uk). The editor of "Private Eye", Ian Hislop appears weekly on a similar theme based t.v. programme, "Have I Got News For You" which is brilliant.

I appreciate clear communication, but am not that good at it myself...I excell at rambling and waffling and my hubby is always correcting my spelling/grammar. I just hate all the expressions that have seeped into life such as "ball park", "run with this" and "the fact of the matter is....". (Yeugh!!!)

Those are not as bad as these trends - like using "paradigm" to explain (or attempt to explain or confuse) some concept or "Really, really, clever, 'cos I am a big boy now" idea. Like the "TV news soundbyte reduced literacy causation paradigm".

Well at least you get radio 4. Actually I can too on the internet!! yipee. I try to avoid those lengthy minor political discussions on this station, unless I trying to expell unwanted guests.

I was only recently mentioning to my better half, John that Radio 4 was one of the things I missed most whilst we lived in New Zealand and if we'd had the internet there, especially as local calls were free, I'd have been listening nearly all the time! I'd hate for it to be commercialised and have to put up with intrusive adverts. Listening to the radio was one of the most enjoyable things about returning to the U.K.