Interesting times we live in, are they not? I was thinking in particular of the case of Symon Hill, who was arrested under the Public Order Act at last Sunday’s proclamation event in Oxford city centre for shouting: “Who elected him?”
Reporting this on Radio 4’s PM programme, Evan Davis announced that Hill had been “arrested and then de-arrested”. The Daily Mail also wrote that he had been de-arrested. Writing in the i newspaper, Hill too said that he had been de-arrested.
I had been pondering this word, entirely new to me, for a few days when I got an email from Gareth Reeves: “Ferreting online, I gather that legally being de-arrested means the record of the arrest is removed. But surely freed is OK for the uninitiated news punter?” I couldn’t agree more. “Released” would have been equally acceptable but, as I say, strange times.
Now, I have a long-standing colleague who is rightly noted for his equable nature, but last week something clearly snapped, hence the following message: “Jean-Luc Godard died yesterday, as you know. I heard the news on two Radio 4 bulletins, in which the announcers made reference to his breakthrough film, A Bout de Souffle. But instead of pronouncing it souffle (soofl), they went for soufflé (soufflay), turning it into some kind of cookery programme.”
Knowing him to be a fluent French speaker, I can understand his chagrin.
Talking of pronunciation, this from Christopher Pike: “Some time ago, some friends were off to ‘the Antartic’, but I’ve no idea where that is! I wonder if anybody else does?” Doesn’t seem to appear in my atlas either. Very strange.
And finally, I’d like to thank Mike Pearce for contributing to the lexicon of overblown job titles: “I have an American supplier of software services. Their technical support staff are called ‘Happiness Engineers’.” Sounds like a blissful occupation.
• Jonathan Bouquet is an Observer columnist. Contact him at jonathan.bouquet@observer.co.uk
