n.05_September_October.2009.Englisch._

• GLOBALBUSINESSBUSINESSPRESS

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

Headlinesin English-languagemediacanbedifficulttounderstand.Theyareoftenveryidiomatic

andfull of jargonandwordplay. Also,tosavespace,wordsmaybeleftout,which makesit difficultto

recognizethegrammaticalstructure.Here,welookatthe meaningofsomerecentheadlines.'O!tmfl

TheEconomist

Singhwhenyou'rewinning

Sinzh:MeanrhereisManmohan5ingh,primeminister

ofIndia,whoseCongrcsspartywonthegenerale1ection

inMay.

Singhwhenyou'rewinning:Thisisa playonwords.Ir

referstothcfootballchanr(Sprechchor)"Singwhcn

you'rewinning",whichi5uscdbyEnglishfoothallfans

tOtaunt(verspotrel1)oppositionfanswhoarenotsing-

ingbecausctheirteamislosing.Thenameofrhischant

wasusedbytheßririshpopsingerRobbieWilliamsfor

thetideofan:tlbumin2000.Williamsisa fanofthe

footballclubPortVale.

InsimpleEnglish:ManmohanSinghwonthegeneral

elcctioninlndia.

Financiallimes

I

IPost-trade suffers

heat ofregulation

,

Post·trade:Here,providersofpost-tradeservices,also
called"clearingholJS(.os"(Clcarillg-,Verrechmmgsstellell).
Thcyorg.aruzethetransferofownershipandcashafter
a securitiestrade(WertpapierhalIdei)hasheenmade.
suffers:Thiswouldnormallybe"suffcrsfrom",but,to
savespace,"from"hasbeenleftout.
heat:"(The)heat"isaninform<llexpressionthatrefers
tounwelcomepressure,especiallyfromtheaurhorities.
lteanbeusedina varietyofways:"thcheatison","the
authoritieshaveturneduprheheat".
ofregulation:Here,anincreasedregulationoffinancial
markers,whiehissomerhingrhcUSadminjstrarionis
currentlyinvestig.ating(untersuchen).
InsimpleEnglish:Providersofpost-tradesc:rvicesare
comingunderpressurefromregulators.

26 BlI5inessSpoliighl

TheWallStreetJournal

·:Seoul-edShort

Seoul-edshort:Thisisa playonwords.Seou!isthe

eapitalofSouthKorea,which,accordingtothishead-

line, has been "sold5hort". "Seoul-ed" (nm areal

word)soundslike"sold".To"nesoldshon"mcanstO

"begivenlcssthanyOIlhaveheenpromised".Thchead-

linealsordcrstu"sellingshort"(Leerverkauf).Ahan

(Verbot)onsellingshanhasnowheenliftedbySouth

Koreanfinancialregulators(Finallzmarktau(sicht).The

weiterbelievesthiscouldbringmoreuncenainrytothe

financialmarkets.

InsimpleEnglish:Removingthebanonsellingshartin

Koreamay bringk-ssthanit promises.

BusinessWeek

:How Not to Sweat

The Retail Details

How not to sweat: TbeAmerican slangexpression

"don'tsweat(something)"means"don'tworryaOOm

it"."Sweat"istheverbintheheadline.Hefe,"hownot

tosweat"teilsusthattheartidewillprovideinforma-

tiononhowcoavoiddifficulties.

theretaildetails:Headlinesofrenusecompoundnouos

tOsavespace.Here,"retail"(Einzelhandel)isthemod-

ifier,tellinglISthatthedetails(inthiscase.aUthestages

neededtoproduecc10thesl arethethings thatretail

stoteshavetuworryabout.

InsimpleEnglish:HerearewaysforretaiJerstoavoid

difficulties.

l......jConfusedbythelanguagemthepress?Keepyour

Englishup 10 dateatWWlv.busmess·spotllght.delpre5s

5/2009