The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : Corrections and clarifications

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Saturday, May 20, 2006

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

Corrections and clarifications

A reader has objected to the catchline ("The juggernaut rolls on") of the photograph that appeared on May 19, 2006, page one. It showed West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi greeting West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee after he was sworn in, in Kolkata on May 18. The reader says the word "juggernaut" is wrongly used and out of context. The word is used in a negative sense most of the time, to refer to a massive inexorable force, or an institution or practice to which a person is blindly devoted.

"Karunanidhi walks down the memory lane", read the heading in the earlier editions (May 19, 2006). One takes "a trip (or walk) down memory lane". The text had the same wrong usage in all editions.

In "A bonanza on the beach" ("Newscape", May 19, 2006), a report on how a Manhattan resident has won a settlement seven years after the wind blew a beach umbrella into her head, the amount ($200,000) was wrongly converted. It is Rs. 90 lakh, and not Rs. 9 crore, as published.

A sentence in "How Tamil Nadu voted — The making of an extraordinary verdict", an analysis of the recent assembly election in Tamil Nadu (May 19, 2006), has baffled a reader in Merensee, Richards Bay, Republic of South Africa. Under the question "Did the tsunami relief make a difference?" the sentence was: "The AIADMK Government's handling of tsunami relief won widespread applause within and without the State". He asks should it not have been "... within and outside the State"? According to the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, "without" is the opposite of "within" in literary usage.

A reader says: "`Farm Queries' (`Science &Technology/Agriculture', May 18, 2006) has `Bougainvillea' misspelt as `Bougan villa'. Does it refer to the villa of the French explorer Louis Antoine de Bougainville, who led the first French circumnavigation of the globe in 1766-69 or does it refer to the plant that bears his name? Also, in the item `Managing gall midge in rice', on the same page, the references to `incidence', are wrong. It should be `prevalence'. The sentence is: `Rice gall midge, known as gall, is a serious pest of rice. Heavy rains and late plantings are conducive to the pest incidence.' Later, on tips on pest management, the authors recommend `Ploughing of stubbles, particularly in fields where the incidence was noticed in the previous season.' `Incidence' and `prevalence' mean two different things. The incidence of a disease is the rate at which new cases occur in a population. The prevalence of a disease means the total number of plants or animals that are sick at a given time."

It is the policy of The Hindu to correct significant errors as soon as possible. Please specify the edition (place of publication), date and page.

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