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Jul. 14th, 2008 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aumentouUse of language interests me. Take this example:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7421534.stm
The article says that knife crime statistics are not going up amongst adults, but that there is a rise amongst teenagers - where statistics aren't recorded - which means that we can't quantify any possible increase.
Or to put it another way, we don't have any idea whether knife crime is going up amongst teenagers or not, but we do know that it isn't going up for adults.
Then it finishes like this:
"It may be that the recent spate of knife deaths is simply a spike on a graph - a statistical quirk - but there is no doubt the carrying of knives and guns has not gone out of fashion.
Whether this home secretary, or this government, can turn the tide remains to be seen."
So the claimed facts are early in the article, but if you read all the way to the end you're left with the impression that there's a major problem and the government are in a bit of difficulty.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7421534.stm
The article says that knife crime statistics are not going up amongst adults, but that there is a rise amongst teenagers - where statistics aren't recorded - which means that we can't quantify any possible increase.
Or to put it another way, we don't have any idea whether knife crime is going up amongst teenagers or not, but we do know that it isn't going up for adults.
Then it finishes like this:
"It may be that the recent spate of knife deaths is simply a spike on a graph - a statistical quirk - but there is no doubt the carrying of knives and guns has not gone out of fashion.
Whether this home secretary, or this government, can turn the tide remains to be seen."
So the claimed facts are early in the article, but if you read all the way to the end you're left with the impression that there's a major problem and the government are in a bit of difficulty.
