Headlines that contradict intended message
ODM leader Raila Odinga and Wiper party’s Kalonzo Musyoka.
Raila-Kalonzo duel or romance?
The sequence or arrangement of words in a phrase or sentence matters. These errors of transposition can contradict the intended message. In the Saturday Nation of 24 July a page one story was headed “How Raila won over Kalonzo’. The impression given was that the two were in a (political) duel in which Raila prevailed. On the contrary, the story was about Raila persuading Kalonzo not to leave Nasa. Hence, the heading should have read, “How Raila won Kalonzo over”.
— Njeri Aseneka
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Ochieng turning in grave
On page 22 the Daily Nation of July 30, 2021 carried a story about pastoralists of The Amaya Triangle which “consists Samburu, Laikipia, Isiolo and Baringo counties”. But the headline reads “Asal regions look to KMC in livestock off-take drive amid drought.” Asal is an acronym and the reporter hasn’t bothered to tell us what it stands for. The late Philip Ochieng used to ask what such a word would mean to a person who buys the newspaper when he lands at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. I’m sure Philip would also have wondered why the editor allowed the word offtake in the story to be hyphenated.
— Cyrus Kimathi, Kasarani
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Why Brigadier not named?
“Today in History” of July 27, 2021, was a beautiful photo of President Mzee Jomo Kenyatta and some Kenya dignitaries. There was a very good frontline shot of Brigadier Samuel Macharia, the ADC of President Kenyatta’s (1973-1978) but he was not named. Why?
— Peter Githinji, Kajiado
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Multiple academic titles
I refer to “Why PhDs shouldn’t be upset if we do not bestow on them their title ‘Dr’” (Daily Nation, July 23, 2021). We should go further and ask why we use multiple tiles. Why should somebody call himself “Prof Xyz, PhD” or “Dr Xyz, PhD” or “Rev Dr”?
While we inherited the American political system, with senators and governors, we failed to learn how to mute titles, which is very American. An example is President Barack Obama, who has many titles but never uses them.
— Prof X. N. Iraki, University of Nairobi
