Mint Notes, Not ‘Mints’

Ebere Wabara

“WIKE promised to remain bold in his actions and utterance (utterances)….” 

“He said although his administration is (was) on its last lap….”

The mind of the electorate: “…are beaten tracks trodden (trod) by our political ruling class en route (en route to) the fabulously provisioned centre” Get it right: ‘trod’ (the past tense of tread) and ‘trodden’ (the past participle of ‘tread’).

“The question that Nigerians must ask is, has (have) this government and the party failed, or done well in the last seven years plus.”

“Kogi residents decry dearth of mints (mint notes) as banks dispense old Naira notes”

“2023: Compulsory insurance for MDAs, Police, others top (tops) agenda for industry”

“Konga Jara: 6 slots up for grabs as battle intensifies for all-expense paid weekend with Ekeh, Zinox boss” This way: all-expenses-paid weekend

DAILY INDEPENDENT of January 23 wobbled: “Blue-chips (Blue-chip) stocks lift market cap by N45.2bn” 

The Guardian of January 22 goofed: “But again, many governors are largely to blame for the failure to deliver on their electioneering campaign promises.” ‘Campaign’ is otiose here—just ‘electioneering’ shows writing classicality as opposed to the extracted sub-literacy!

Last entry from The Guardian: “…the life-wire (livewire) of the healthcare system….”

Let us welcome Sunday Leadership to this column. Its edition of January 22 showed the new title’s colour: “Bizzare: Ogboni members seize colleague’s corpse” Spell-check: Bizarre. The wrong spelling ordinarily looks grotesque! 

“It was a tale of woes for various categories of investors.” Cover story: a tale of woe….

“…on their heydays (heyday) and what retirement is like”

Still on Sunday Leadership: “…among sundry issues in this no-hold-barred interview with….” Get it right: no-holds-barred interview

DAILY TRUST of January 17 takes over the baton with a few solecisms right from its front page: “2023: Parties set to merge for better governance” We should be talking of good governance—not better governance which will mean that there is good governance by the ruling party: unprecedented corruption, insecurity, social infrastructural decay and visionless leadership egged on by citizen docility!  

“N12b pension scam: Court admits banks documents” No news: bank documents/banks’ documents.

“LASTMA deploys more officers to (in) traffic prone (traffic-prone) areas”

“…his team’s way of testing the water over his second term (second-term) ambition.” Not my view: testing the waters.

Finally from DAILY TRUST under focus: “The AU deserves to be congratulated for (on/upon) braving the stormy Nigerian….”

“…we can have a data to tell users of….” Education Today: a datum or just ‘we can have data….’ This is called technical or specialized English.

More and more schoolboy infractions: “Varsity part-time enrolment reduce (reduces) in UK”

“Ajasin varsity alumni holds (hold) reunion in Lagos”

Finally from the back page: “…where majority (a majority) of the masses engage in daily struggles for survival as if they are (were) living in a war front.”  

“But this time around….” (THISDAY, January 16) The senate politics of Anambra 2023: this time round. ‘This time around’ is sheer American informality!

The Guardian of January 15 from its front page to the inside pages fumbled: “Again, hope dims for Eco’s takeoff in 2023” And now the story: “The take off (sic) date of the common currency in the West African Region….” Which one is correct: takeoff, take off and take-off? Of course, the last entry.

“Lagos to quicken processing of Dana Air crash victims (victims’) entitlements”

Still on The Guardian, Nigeria’s flagship, which disseminated two solecisms: “Expectations of a life lived in abundance and reasonable security is (are) a mirage today in Nigeria.”

“They are funding…awards by every (all) manner of men or groups in….”

“The Spirit of Africa will flow through our lands, rise in our sons and unleash their might in (on/upon) the next Africa Cup of Nations….” 

Finally from Rutam House of improprieties: “Group passes vote of no confidence on (in) leadership”

A review of THE NATION ON SUNDAY of January 22 threw up the following gaffes: “Kenya (Kenyan/Kenya’s) president rejects lavish pay for legislators”

“…represented Anambra between 1999 to (and/or from 1999 to 2003) 2003….”

“Unforgetable” Spell-check: unforgettable

“Lanre and Funmi Ogunlesi’s love deepen (deepens)”

There was a mild intervention a fortnight ago on the usage of ‘arrest for/over’. One of my readers who called from the City of Gilgoa, Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, pointed out that ‘arrest over’ could be used in uncertain circumstances, while ‘arrest for’ applies to certainties! This uneducated and illogical rationalization/justification that borders on linguistic sentiment is unacceptable. ‘Arrest’ takes ‘for’. That some incorrigible sub-editors and editors use it regularly does not confer correctness on the phrase.  

Let us welcome John Momoh’s medium for the first time: “Dare says Super Eagles must be discipline (disciplined)” (Channels News@10, January 9)

“Reacting on (to) the report that the NFF was yet to get the….” (THE GUARDIAN Sports, January 8)

FEEDBACK

There is no noun as ‘black marketer’ in the English language as it is called by a majority of Nigerians. A person who engages in an illegal form of trade in officially controlled or scarce commodities is a ‘black marketeer.’ We also have ‘free marketeer.’ (Stanley Nduagu/Aba/08092925996)

Once again, the correct versions of my interventions here are usually in brackets (excluding attributions, of course).

An observation from a devout contributor to this column with reference to the edition of two weeks ago: “The report said the country lacks (lacked) Aircraft Hanger (Hangar) Maintenance facilities, to take charge of the maintenance of aircrafts.” First: ‘aircraft’ is non-count. Second: The Guardian of January 8 thinks that its readers are daft by the unnecessary inclusion of the phrase ‘to take charge of the maintenance of aircrafts’! What else would the facilities be doing? The sentence should have ended at ‘facilities’! ‘Hanger’ is for clothing. (Thanks to an eagle-eyed reader for the ‘hangar’/’hanger’ distinction omitted earlier).