JB writes:

The other day your correspondent wondered why the Spice Girls were the lead story on RTE.ie.

Last night, a Welsh footballer formerly at a second-tier English football club was the lead story – and although an alleged scumbag he may be, RTÉ believes he’s the only Welsh footballer in the world according to their bizarre comma placement.

In the wider news-world, the racist tug-of-war of the US mid-term elections is underway… closer to home there’s an intense debate about why and how the Irish health service closes its doors from mid-December until the new year.

Perhaps yonder Welsh footballer or 4/5ths of the remaining John Major-supporting Spice Girls might comment on the thousands of homeless children, the proposed shutdown of Anglo-Irish trading relations and the return of ethno-religious civil war in Northern Ireland in future RTÉ.ie front-page leads.

Previously: Zig A Zig Ah Here

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21 thoughts on “Ched Lead”

    1. hapfff

      almost definitely – I can’t see that story anywhere when I visit rte.ie/news

      so JB is being shown the Ched story because RTÉ thinks he is interested in it. what. a. burn

    2. Rep

      Indeed. If JB wants to be outraged, maybe he/should be outraged with the sites users prefer to read about, not the site.

  3. LeopoldGloom

    “though absolute love and sympathy and support may be due to his victim, ”

    Wasn’t he cleared?

    That’s not to say I believe any of it, but that’s surely libelous

  4. Col

    “RTÉ believes he’s the only Welsh footballer in the world according to their bizarre comma placement.”

    I don’t understand that- where should the comma be?

    1. Cian

      I’m lost too.
      If BS suggested “RTÉ believes he’s the only Welsh footballer in the world according to their definite article usage” I would agree.

      On re-reading their headline there is an issue with the commas. If you dropped the offset appositives (the bit in commas) you end up with:

      “The Wales International footballer is suing…”

      2. Brother Barnabas

        it’s kind of both, actually

        “The Wales international footballer, Ched Evans, is suing lawyers…” is wrong because the comma after ‘footballer’ means he’s the only Wales international footballer

        it’s a syntactical situation known as identifier-name – in short: if the name (Ched Evans in this case) is the only thing described by the identifier, there then needs to be a comma before the name. if not, though (which is the case here), you don’t need a comma.

        there’s an exception to the rule, though, if you don’t the definite article “The” – so the sentence would have been fine if they’d said “A Wales international footballer, Ched Evans, is suing…)

        ultimately, it depends on whether the thing being described is unique or not –

        “Broadsheet commenter, Cian, is often admonished for being a government apologist” would mean there’s only one broadsheet commenter, who’s name happens to be Cian

        whereas

        “Broadsheet commenter Cian is often admonished for being a government apologist” means there’s more than one broadsheet commenter, but, with this, we’re referring to the one called Cian

        2. Is A ____

          What about “the racist tug-of-war of the US mid-term elections” ?

          Does that mean two teams of racists are having a tug-of-war?

          Or does it mean the tug-of-war is racist?

          (Nevermind the ‘scumbag’ faux-pas)

        4. Col

          Thanks from me too.
          So this must be a common mistake, even if the second comma is omitted, such as:
          “The popular entertainer, David Bowie has died…”
          or
          “The American filmmaker, Harvey Weinstein has been arrested”
          These are both incorrect as they would imply that Bowie is the only popular entertainer and Weinstein is the only filmmaker? But they would be correct if the definite article was omitted?

  5. Ollie Cromwell

    Well I suppose a Welsh footballer at a second-tier English football club being the lead makes a change from an Irish footballer at a second-tier English football club being the lead …

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