Squint and you might have a vision
HAD to have a bit of a chuckle at the Sunshine Coast’s legacy vision for the Brisbane 2032 Games released last week.
Firstly the name ‘10+10+ Vision’ caught me. What is that I wondered? A half finished equation? Borderline blindness?
I suspected if I had 10/10 vision I’d be needing a seeing eye dog just to get to the opening ceremony.
But no, apparently it means taking advantage of the 10 years before, during and after the Games, which still doesn’t make much sense (I’d hate to be pedantic but we’re only nine years out anyway).
This ‘important’ document which came in at 12 pages with lots of pictures, made a passing reference to the Beerwah to Maroochydore railway line, then went on in more detail about maximising opportunities for inclusivity, sports participation and our natural environment and hotel options.
While you can’t be critical of the intent, it seemed particularly soft. Each one of those points is or should be being pursued all day every day regardless of an Olympics. It’s a pretty, feel good document, but I can’t help but feel all that really matters to most people is the infrastructure.
WORD JUMBLES
Reading widely, as I do, I thought I had a fairly good handle on the King’s English until I came across a music review in the weekend paper recently.
“With their inconsistent fourth album… Sam Smith finally sounds like they’re having fun,” the opening sentence read.
Popping my snout over the paper I gently asked Mrs Croc, “Luv, is Sam Smith… a band?”.
No. “So why is this writer referring to the singer in the plural I asked,” I asked. “Oh, Sam is a them/they”, she said to clear up the confusion.
Is that right? Well I certainly have no issue with pronouns. My teenagers keep me in check on that. But the issue is the context of it in an article. The assumed knowledge doesn’t sit too comfortably here. Is there anything wrong with having a bracketed explanation… (Pro: them/they) either at the first reference or even the end of the story? Even if it’s just for a year or two as we get our heads around it. It makes for hard reading if you’re worried the writer has had a stroke.
