4 ms·

Only The Economist could write "The mosquitoes that transmit malaria in Africa have short and merry lives"

by ape4 4y ago

kwhitefoot 4y ago
Plenty of English writers could do the same. I suspect that it is The Economist's Englishness rather than anything specific to the Economist. We anthropomorphize much more than people from elsewhere; we give names to our cars, we apologize to furniture when we bump into it. Saying that a mosquito had a short and merry life is not something that I would have reacted to at all, or to the use of a diminutive, mozzies, in the next paragraph.
- smcl 4y ago
  Just to add a little to the English-language chat - "mozzies" feels more Australian English than British English to me. So it could even be that this was written by an Australian contributor. That or this is another Australianism which has entered the British lexicon (see also: "uni")
  - pbhjpbhj 4y ago
    Mozzies (and mozs [sp?], pronounced "moz-is") is common in UK too, IME. Never heard of it as Australian influenced. We used to call an unspecified wasp-or-bee a wobby/wo-bee (eg "look out there are a bunch of wobbies about today"). Which I mention for having a similar pattern.
    - smcl 4y ago
      Never really heard it growing up, but we had "midgies" which are similar but distinct
      - pbhjpbhj 4y ago
        Where I grew up they were always just 'midges', AFAIK, it can vary at a family level too though.
  - lordgrenville 4y ago
    It's marked here [0] as "also common in other English dialects". I heard it plenty in South Africa. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutives_in_Australian_English#List_of_diminutives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutives_in_Australian_Engl...
    - smcl 4y ago
      Ahhhh I didn't even think to look for a list. That's actually amazing. And it gives me an excuse to drop a link to a song called "Smoko" (Smoko, a smoking break while at work. Since smoking has been banned in many workplaces, a smoko has come to mean any rest break at work) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58V2vC9EPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58V2vC9EPc
    - yayitswei 4y ago
      TIL from your list: "selfie" originated in Australia.

Only The Economist could write "The mosquitoes that transmit malaria in Africa have short and merry lives"

by ape4 4y ago

Only The Economist could write "The mosquitoes that transmit malaria in Africa have short and merry lives"

Plenty of English writers could do the same. I suspect that it is The Economist's Englishness rather than anything specific to the Economist. We anthropomorphize much more than people from elsewhere; we give names to our cars, we apologize to furniture when we bump into it. Saying that a mosquito had a short and merry life is not something that I would have reacted to at all, or to the use of a diminutive, mozzies, in the next paragraph.

smcl 4y ago
Just to add a little to the English-language chat - "mozzies" feels more Australian English than British English to me. So it could even be that this was written by an Australian contributor. That or this is another Australianism which has entered the British lexicon (see also: "uni")
- pbhjpbhj 4y ago
  Mozzies (and mozs [sp?], pronounced "moz-is") is common in UK too, IME. Never heard of it as Australian influenced. We used to call an unspecified wasp-or-bee a wobby/wo-bee (eg "look out there are a bunch of wobbies about today"). Which I mention for having a similar pattern.
  - smcl 4y ago
    Never really heard it growing up, but we had "midgies" which are similar but distinct
    - pbhjpbhj 4y ago
      Where I grew up they were always just 'midges', AFAIK, it can vary at a family level too though.
- lordgrenville 4y ago
  It's marked here [0] as "also common in other English dialects". I heard it plenty in South Africa. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutives_in_Australian_English#List_of_diminutives https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diminutives_in_Australian_Engl...
  - smcl 4y ago
    Ahhhh I didn't even think to look for a list. That's actually amazing. And it gives me an excuse to drop a link to a song called "Smoko" (Smoko, a smoking break while at work. Since smoking has been banned in many workplaces, a smoko has come to mean any rest break at work) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58V2vC9EPc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j58V2vC9EPc
  - yayitswei 4y ago
    TIL from your list: "selfie" originated in Australia.