Journalists Lingo

[Khandro]

I know it's a bit of a law onto itself but the present headline on the BBC News website is;

'Hundreds more China ship dead found'

The BBC no less, where will it all end?

[jno]

it's probably a matter of finding short words that will fit in a given space (and that space may be different on different platforms). It doesn't exactly sound like fluent English.

[jomifl]

The words may be English but the sentence sounds just a tad chinese..

[jno]

"Hundreds more found dead on China ship" would probably have fitted.

[Peter Pedant]

The headline is to get you to read the small print
( there is a technical lingo word for it - taster, trailer or something )

nothing to do with English Lit O level - and no Shakespeare would never have written it.

Hundreds more dead in China ship tragedy

difficulty is - more people arent dying - more of those already dead are being found

and the sub ed doesnt like " bodies" either

Let's hear if for the hacks and scribblers - they have a difficult job being accurate let along writing obituaries ( see Charles Kennedy thread )

[flan]

anyway it's 'a law unto' not 'a law onto'. Pot calling the kettle black?