n.05_September_October.2009.Englisch._

(Ben Green) #1

  • 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
Free download pdf