- GLOBAL BUSINESS BUSINESS PRESS
BEHIND THE HEADLINES
Headlines in English-Ianguage media can be difficult to understand. They are otten very idiomatic
and full of jargon and wordplay. Also, to save space, words may be Jett out. wh ich makes it difficult to
recognize the grammaticaJ structure. Here, we look at the meaning of some recent headlines. Fm"li'"The Economist. .. .• n.::. ,I .~ .....
Carats and sticks
Carat: A "carat" is a measure of the purity of gold al-
loys. The artide is about gold.
Carats and sticks: T his is a play on thc saying "carrot
and stick" (Zuckerbrot und Peitsche). The headline
refers to a view in the artide that gold-producing coun-
tries, such as Ghana, adjust taxes a nd royalties (Förde-
rungsabgaben) to gold prices. When the gold price falls,
ro yalties and taxes arc dropped as a "carrot" to anract
investmcnt. With the current high price, Ghana is now
using a "stick" in order to make dcmands on investors- for example, by raising royalties and making foreign
mining firms pay for environmental damage (Umwelt-
schäden).
In s imple Ena:lish: Gold-mining companies (Coldmi-
nengesellschaften ) a re experiencing both incentives (An-
reize) and punishments.
ForbesBOND FUND '
BUBBLE
Bond fund: Here, [his means "bond mutual funds" (An-
lagefonds), w hieh are investment funds made up most-
ly of bonds (A"leihe,,) and debentures (Schuldver-
schreibu ngen).
bubble: This rcfers to a situa tion in whieh produets,
stocks (Aktie,, ) or assets (Aulagegiiter) are traded at in-
flared prices. When the prices drop d ramatically, th e
bubble (Blase) is said to "burst". The delibcrately cryp·
tie wording in this headline leaves rhe reader guessing
whether th ere really is a bubble or juSt the threat of o ne.
Note that there is no verb, but just one eompound noun.
In simple English: The price of bond mutual funds is,
o r could become, se riously inflated.24 BusinessSpoIligtu
Financial limesjPad: Apple's new tablet
computer.
sales: Here, the number
oE iPads sold Oll the first
day of availability in the
USoiPad sales fall-
shy of upheat
expectations
fall shy of: If something " falls shy 0(" something el se,
it d oes not rench a ce rrain (expectcd) level.
upbeat: This mcans "extremely optimistic ".
expectations: Here, the expectations o f market analysts.
In s imple Ena:lish: The number of iPads sold on the first
day in the US was below the very positive expectatio ns
oE market experts.The Wall Street JournalOre's weil as BHP Billiton
Ore's weil: "Ore" (Erz) sounds like "all". One says, " AIl's
weil that ends weil" when things have turned out weil de-
spite difficulties at first. The saying became welt known
from the title of a comedy by William Shakespeare. In this
case, th ings have ended weil for iron-ore mining firms.
as: Here, "asn means "after".
BHP 8illilon: ßHP ß illiton Iron Ore is part of the glo-
bal mining company BH!' :Billiton.
shifts: H ere, this mea ns "tO Start a p rocess of change".
pricing: T his refers to the 40 -year-old system of setting
rh e price (den Preis festsette1l) of iron o re. Traditional-
Iy, the first deal in the year made bcrween miners and
steelmakers bceomes the benchmark (Bezugspunkt) for
the rest of th e industry for a year. BHP Billiton reeent-
Iy signed a quanerly (v iertel;ährlich ) pricing coorract
with same of its cllstomers. This could rnean the end oE
the old system, and more profits for mining Eirms.
In s imple English: Things h ave rurned o ut weil for iran-
ore mining firms a fter a move by ßHP Billiton ( 0 change
the o re-pricing system. 1lI( .... 1 Confused by the language in Ihe press? Keep your
English up 10 date al http://www.business·spotlight.de/press4/2010