- 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