Is the Guardian worse than it used to be?

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"Wahay, we've rescued a 20 year old girl!"

Mark G, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:15 (fifteen years ago) link

That's where the 'similarity' lies: If it hadn't been for that mobile phone vid, the "Police tried to rescue a man who fell in the crowd and got trampled to death" line would have held.

Mark G, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:19 (fifteen years ago) link

(xpost) Oops, our mistake, put back into rubble...

Mark G, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:20 (fifteen years ago) link

Is that normal phraseology in Britain? In America 20-year-old girls are usually called "women", or "young women" if you really want to emphasize how nubile they are.

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:24 (fifteen years ago) link

Mmm, yup that's about it.

Usually with visions of their A-level results...

Mark G, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:27 (fifteen years ago) link

Seems kinda sexist cos you'd never talk about a 20-year-old boy without thinking of that Peter Pan guy off the internets or something.

The Unbearable Skegness of Being (NickB), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:30 (fifteen years ago) link

"20-year-old woman" sounds kind of odd to me?

horses that are on fire (c sharp major), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:32 (fifteen years ago) link

mostly her age just seems an unnecessary detail: could they not have said 'young woman' and left it at that?

horses that are on fire (c sharp major), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:34 (fifteen years ago) link

Age is the ultimate unnecessary detail in most newspaper journalism though.

Matt DC, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:34 (fifteen years ago) link

mentioning the 98-yr-old's age was pertinent.

FREE DOM AND ETHAN (special guest stars mark bronson), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:36 (fifteen years ago) link

http://www.guardian.co.uk/styleguide/g
girl
female under 18

Maybe someone who works there should read their styleguide instead of just trying to sell it to readers for some reason.

new drone spider (j.o.n.a), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:37 (fifteen years ago) link

mostly her age just seems an unnecessary detail: could they not have said 'young woman' and left it at that?

― horses that are on fire (c sharp major), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:34 (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Well, exactly.

Mark G, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:38 (fifteen years ago) link

For fuck's sake, people. We hacks don't necessarily have time to consult the style book for every word, especially with breaking news (and I speak as the author of two in-house style guides). In this instance, does it really matter at all? No.

Glad everyone's got so much to occupy their minds this morning. Jesus fucking wept.

a tiny, faltering megaphone (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:38 (fifteen years ago) link

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/12304045985t78.gif

Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:43 (fifteen years ago) link

The truth is, though, that most of us in any everyday convo WOULD call a 20-year-old female a girl. I know females a lot older than that who are still happy to be referred to this way.

Radio then consisted of one channel, and the only programme was Marconi reminiscing about his childhood holidays to Skegness.

Stuart Marconi?

the pinefox, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:50 (fifteen years ago) link

Totally yoinking that gif Tracer! haha.

one art, please (Trayce), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:52 (fifteen years ago) link

should have mentioned if she has a boyfriend or not

velko, Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:56 (fifteen years ago) link

The genius of Tracer's gif (which I'm going to link to, repeatedly) is drawing attention away from "Stuart Marconi". Wonderful.

a tiny, faltering megaphone (grimly fiendish), Wednesday, 8 April 2009 09:57 (fifteen years ago) link

:/ He should stick to grandiose indictments of ossified central government, which he does better than anyone else I can think of.

Ditto Marcel Berlins writing about anything other than law, the latter of which I thought was supposed to be his brief, but instead he writes about, I dunno, these crazy milkshakes and iPods they got these days.

Tracer Hand, Friday, 17 April 2009 11:31 (fifteen years ago) link

the ipod has eliminated the need for all simple pleasures. obviously jenkins must be culled. these are the tenets of modern society.

Local Garda, Friday, 17 April 2009 11:50 (fifteen years ago) link

How this cretin escaped the directorate of hatcheries must be ascertained

Tracer Hand, Friday, 17 April 2009 12:00 (fifteen years ago) link

every time I turn on my ipod I revel in the knowledge that older people are dying, like the useless shrivelled onion skins they are.

Local Garda, Friday, 17 April 2009 12:09 (fifteen years ago) link

Nice subbing in the title tag of that article btw

Tracer Hand, Friday, 17 April 2009 13:52 (fifteen years ago) link

I could have sworn I've read this exact same article some months ago, but I can't find it?
Woman gives hubby a year of sex as a present.

weight and bulk are your enemies (Ned Trifle II), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 10:48 (fifteen years ago) link

OK, it wasn't in the Guardian, it was the Mail 10 months ago...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1033911/Could-make-love-husband-day-year.html
Exact same photo though.

weight and bulk are your enemies (Ned Trifle II), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 10:50 (fifteen years ago) link

I'm pretty sure the Observer or someone wheeled that out at least a year ago as well.

I am quite pro-Guardian at the moment for the way they are pushing the Tomlinson thing though.

Enormous Epic (Matt DC), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 10:51 (fifteen years ago) link

Like most newspapers, the Guardian prints a lot of crap, but they have really excelled themselves with all the Ian Tomlinson/G20 stuff.

The Real Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 22 April 2009 16:14 (fifteen years ago) link

Eh, which is basically what Matt DC said.

The Real Dirty Vicar, Wednesday, 22 April 2009 16:14 (fifteen years ago) link

Agreed, it's miles better when it actually bothers to do some, y'know, journalism.

zero learnt from nero (Neil S), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 16:24 (fifteen years ago) link

Most viewed on guardian.co.uk

1. 1. Stuart Jeffries talks to Charla Muller who offered her husband sex every night for a year and wrote a book about it
2. 2. Liverpool 4-4 Arsenal: Four-goal Andrey Arshavin shatters Liverpool's hopes
3. 3. New G20 protest footage shows moment Ian Tomlinson's head hit the pavement
4. 4. Andrey Arshavin the unlikely hero as Liverpool forget how to defend
5. 5. Budget 2009 - as it happened

weight and bulk are your enemies (Ned Trifle II), Wednesday, 22 April 2009 17:28 (fifteen years ago) link

from page of site:

Tanya Gold
Nazi cows, Nazi cats, actors playing depressed Nazis. It's all just Hitler porn and it disgusts me

the pinefox, Thursday, 23 April 2009 08:25 (fifteen years ago) link

Steorra
23 Apr 09, 12:54am (about 8 hours ago)
I know exactly what you mean, Tanya. I'm reading this book by a girl called Anne Frank and I'm sick of her constantly mentioning Hitler.

the pinefox, Thursday, 23 April 2009 08:25 (fifteen years ago) link

lol, pwned.

Suggesteban Cambiasso (jim), Thursday, 23 April 2009 08:27 (fifteen years ago) link

Manclad
23 Apr 09, 1:40am (about 8 hours ago)
I know what you mean. I keep going to watch zombie films and reading zombie websites, and I'm frankly sick of everything I watch and read being about zombies. What's wrong with the world?

the pinefox, Thursday, 23 April 2009 08:28 (fifteen years ago) link

You guys...

Dreagon

23 Apr 09, 12:44am (about 9 hours ago)

I guess the Nazi's were the last interesting Europeans there were. You gotta admit, you guys have become pretty bland and easy to ignore.

Besides, it's time to put the Nazi's in perspective. As bad as they were...Stalin and Mao were worse.

weight and bulk are your enemies (Ned Trifle II), Thursday, 23 April 2009 08:44 (fifteen years ago) link

They left Gordon Brown off that list.

Enormous Epic (Matt DC), Thursday, 23 April 2009 09:04 (fifteen years ago) link

This disgusts me. It makes me wretch.

Good job subs. Shame you missed out the indefinite article.

the innermost wee guy (onimo), Thursday, 23 April 2009 09:15 (fifteen years ago) link

how can she eat so many minstrels when genocide is happening right now?

Local Garda, Thursday, 23 April 2009 09:48 (fifteen years ago) link

For how much longer must we tolerate Tanya Gold?

zero learnt from nero (Neil S), Thursday, 23 April 2009 09:50 (fifteen years ago) link

She is terrible, like a bold child.

Local Garda, Thursday, 23 April 2009 09:52 (fifteen years ago) link

Who the fuck sucks a minstrel?

Enemy Insects (NickB), Thursday, 23 April 2009 09:59 (fifteen years ago) link

A minstrel's wife?

Enormous Epic (Matt DC), Thursday, 23 April 2009 10:00 (fifteen years ago) link

I have a morbid fascination with TG because I still can't believe she was shameless enough to write this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/jul/19/familyandrelationships5

Stevie T, Thursday, 23 April 2009 10:02 (fifteen years ago) link

I used to stand at parties drinking vodka, like a small Judy Garland, drooling at his Aryan blondness.

Hang on a minute...

Enormous Epic (Matt DC), Thursday, 23 April 2009 10:06 (fifteen years ago) link

Adolf Hitler himself could have written that

Sacco, Vanzetti, Passantino... (Tom D.), Thursday, 23 April 2009 10:09 (fifteen years ago) link

I find her a bit blousy and if she didn't keep mentioning Oxbridge you'd never guess that she went beyond remedial ed.

suggest bánh mi (suzy), Thursday, 23 April 2009 10:10 (fifteen years ago) link

He had become beautiful: half-Irish, half-black

This reminds me, last night I was drinking with some pals next to the canal in Victoria Park, as you do, when this guy stopped and said in full Cockney "Is vat a Dub accent?". He then proceeded to tell us he had moved to London from County Meath in 1970, and he'd lost his accent completely because in those days you'd be beaten up for having an Irish accent. He was v angry about British oppression of the Irish.

Then he introduced himself. "I'm Desmond. IT'S NOT A BLACK NAME. My whole faaakin life people say 'that's a black name'"

I really wanted to reply "My name's Malcome Exe, it's not a black name!"

Local Garda, Thursday, 23 April 2009 10:44 (fifteen years ago) link


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