A final request is not the same as a death wish

I was quite appalled to read this headline for a story about an ex-PM of Vietnam:

A Malaysian death wish for ex-PM


This story is among the "Most Viewed" online and has presumably made it to print. You only have to read the lede to realise that what the writer meant was "final request", "last request", or "last wish". None of these death wishes! Here's the dictionary definition of death wish, which has very negative connotations:

death wish n.

1. A desire for self-destruction, often accompanied by feelings of depression, hopelessness, and self-reproach.
2. A suicidal urge that presumably drives certain people to put themselves consistently into dangerous situations.

* death wish. Dictionary.com. The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company (accessed: July 28, 2011).

If you want to use an idiom, make sure you know what it really means!

It's not a battle royale unless...

One source of annoyance for editor-types is when writers repeatedly use "battle royale" when they mean to write "battle royal".

For example, check out the headlines for these two stories which cover the tiff between the Negeri Sembilan and Johor royal families.


To clarify:

Battle Royale is the title of a 2000 Japanese film directed by Kinji Fukasaku, which is based on the novel of the same name by Koushun Takami. The film was quite controversial when it first came out. It is known for its violent scenes and dark humour.

The intended phrase, battle royal, is a very old idiom, and it means "a fight in which more than two combatants are engaged" or "a heated argument".

The Star apparently knows the difference between the two phrases and has not used it in recent months (though they've let it slip into their the citizen's blogs and letters to the editor).

In the case of the duelling royal houses, I suppose you could invoke the film title because apparently, a gun was involved.

Identity Register for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Malaysia

The NRD (National Registration Department, or Jabatan Pendaftaran Negara) website FAQ is full of hilarious grammatical errors and Borat-like language. There are waaay too many gems on that page, so I'll just reproduce the whole text here. All errors are from their website:

1. What is NRD's website?

NRD website is abbreviation to official web National Registration Department. NRD website make major world to information and national registration department service through Internet.

2. Why this website been created?

Latterly, information and service majority National Registration Department has been prepared by online and NRD website been created to provide convenience to the public find information and service that are provided.

3. Whom were allowed surf and use this website ?

Generally, this website could be achieved by all society. However, there were some information and service that need registration.

4. What is privacy policy for this website? Am I been recorded or not?

All access and your use up on this website shall not be recorded. To further information, please visit to 'Privacy Policy And Safety Policy' in bottom of each page.

5. What method for I contact National Registration Department?

You can contact us:-
Public Relations Office
Tel: (redacted)
Fax: (redacted)

6. How should I sent my feedback to Goverment Agencies?

You can fill form in the division "Public Complaint System" In NRD website. It would be channelled to the divisions relating.


(Thanks for the tip, Medaline.)

Update: A screencapt for posterity

Update Dec 9, 2008 : The webpage has been removed. Good thing I made a screencapt.

Are you discrete, or discreet?

Consider the following sentences which have previously appeared in The Star:
"...dining room was plush without being overwhelming while the service was charming yet discrete."
"Xxx's two discrete rooms are the perfect place to entertain business guests for private functions."

In both cases, the intended word was probably discreet. Discrete means "constituting a separate entity : individually distinct", according to M-W. Just a tiny difference in spelling, yet they have completely different meanings. Unfortunately, your spellchecker won't flag this, because both are valid words. These would be examples of malapropisms.

IT-savvy users are most likely to encounter this word in a description such as
"discrete graphics", which refers to standalone graphics cards (usually using processors from nVidia or ATI). Even here, there's also confusion over the two words; if you google for "discreet graphics", you'll get 700+ hits.

Speaking of discrete graphics, it looks like Intel is going to enter this already competitive market. Interestingly, the company is the overall leader in PC graphics, by virtue of its built-in (integrated) graphics technology used on many motherboards. They carry names like "Intel Extreme Graphics 2" though most serious gamers would call them "graphics decelerators".