GrammarBlog

Thursday, 24 January 2008

Hanson talks balls

img src="http://www.grammarblog.co.uk/z_images/banners/v2launch.gif" border="0" title="We've moved to www.grammarblog.co.uk" alt="We've moved to www.grammarblog.co.uk" />

I am the proud manager of a hugely unsuccessful Fantasy Football team with the Daily Telegraph. The venerable Alan Hansen is the resident celebrity pundit and earns his endorsement fee by writing (or maybe just approving ) the odd email newsletter.

We're used to sports pundits talking rubbish, but this email takes the half-time orange.

The one good thing about being a TFF manager as opposed to the real thing is at least you shouldn't get the sack. Newcastle have about as much patience as a closed down hospital and so Big Sam Allardyce has now been reduced to something a lot smaller.

Pardon, Alan? Have you been at the scotch?

Firstly, the verbal pun on patience/patients doesn't really work written down, especially as the use of the determiner 'much' isn't appropriate for the alternate meaning. You can't say a hospital has much patients. However the funniest aspect of this garbled paragraph is the implication that Sam Allardyce used to be bigger than a closed down hospital. I suppose that would justify the nickname Big Sam.

Anyone familiar with BBC football coverage will be aware that, due to Hansen's favourite sitting position – slouched and splayed, his modifiers are not the only things to be seen dangling.

Labels: dangling modifiers, determiners, newspapers, Pundrity

posted by Gez at 5:51 pm 0 Comments

Share this post

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]

GrammarBlog has moved

We are now live at http://www.grammarblog.co.uk/

Contact us

If you want to tell us your pet peeves, send us examples of grammar abuse you have witnessed or even ask our advice on grammar matters, we'd love to hear from you. Email us on