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Burning Down The House

October 9th, 2008 · Posted by Skuds in Life · 4 Comments · Life

A small follow-up to what I wrote about that fire at the other end of Tollgate Hill the other day.  The presence of dogs in the building got picked up by the papers before their print editions came out today and became the focus of the story, but that is not what is interesting me.

By the way, the dogs were a main reason why the police were outside the house all day on Monday.  The place could not be boarded up and secured until late in the night, because they had to wait for the environmental health people to remove the dogs’ remains, but that’s just an aside.

What stands out for me is the little mention of the town’s MP in the middle of the story.  It is not very flattering, but I really can’t work out if it was a carelessly-worded quote given over the phone, an unfortunate choice of words by the reporter or something more sinister. (I’m thinking it is more likely the inadvertent unfortunate choice of words option) Or maybe its just me.  Maybe I’m the only one who thinks that it comes across as negative.  This is the passage:

MP for Crawley Laura Moffatt, who lives nearby, said she watched the home burn.

Doesn’t that come across as just a bit creepy?  Like she was standing around being entertained by the spectacle: a modern-day Home Counties Nero.   I think it is more likely that she saw it, perhaps while passing, or trying to pass.  What a fantastic thing language is though, that the tiny difference between seeing a fire and watching a fire can have such drastically different connotations, and yet seeing a film and watching a film are interchangeable. It does show how careful you have to be though

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4 Comments so far ↓

  • skud's sister

    Try reading some Steven Pinker – language is so much more amazing than you could ever imagine…

  • Richard

    Pinker’s “Language Instinct” is great – but never forget Pinher’s mentor – Noam Chomsky.

  • ian irvine

    The Crawley News today reports that ‘Laura Moffatt…did not witness the incident’, which reinforces the point you’re making Skuds.
    The original reporting could put Laura in a poor light. No doubt unintentionally.

  • Skuds

    I see the Crawley Observer has printed a correction/apology this week…