Monday, November 17, 2008

Language in the Canadian news media

One of CBC Toronto’s current headlines reads “Toronto Zoo wants to turn poo into energy”. Perhaps I am being a little nit-picky, but the use of “poo” really irritates me. It makes the headline sound like one that you would read in the Toronto Sun instead of the Globe and Mail, or something you would hear from Kevin Frankish instead of Peter Mansbridge.

One can argue that the reporters at CBC, as Canada’s national and most substantial news source, should present the news adhering to a higher standard. I would almost understand if they used the word to be witty. It appears to me, however, that the author was simply too lazy to pick up a thesaurus. After all, it is possible to be eloquent and witty whilst appealing to the largest possible readership. As a suggestion, they could have used instead:

  • From feces to fuel at Toronto Zoo
  • Experimenting with excremental energy
  • Toronto Zoo’s manure manoeuvre
I know that I am not the most eloquent person. I, therefore, particularly enjoy reading news articles with a linguistic prowess.

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