Corrections

This newspaper adheres to the system of self-regulation overseen by the Press Complaints Commission. The PCC takes complaints about the editorial content of publications under the Editor's Code of Practice, a copy of which can be found at www.pcc.org.uk

Errors & Omissions: Going forward, here's my counsel to honeytrap divorcees

It is an odd quirk of the human brain to be unclear or inconsistent about the direction in which time is moving.

Inside Corrections

Errors & Omissions: Three is the magic number – but not always for women

Saturday, 15 October 2011

The introductory blurb to a fashion feature published on Monday began like this: "A triumvirate of designers shone in Paris last week – and these ladies all had very different ideas." I know this is pure pedantry, and Latin pedantry at that, but you really can't have a triumvirate of women (or even "ladies").

Errors & Omissions: Those magnificent aviatrixes in their flying machines

Saturday, 8 October 2011

Aviation is a cheerful cooked-up Latin word formed from avis, meaning "bird". Astonishingly, the Shorter Oxford dates "aviation" back to 1887, when it presumably referred to gliders, or the mere idea of trying to fly like a bird.

Errors & Omissions: Left hand, meet right hand – and stop irritating the reader

Saturday, 1 October 2011

"British law firm steps up fight against Europe's last dictator," said a headline on a news story on Tuesday. Next to the headline was a picture, carrying the following caption: "The Belarus President, Alexander Lukashenko, left, is described as Europe's last dictator."

Tilly Mint Bakery, Truro

Sunday, 25 September 2011

In our article, 'The scone of destiny' (11 September 2011) we incorrectly stated that Tilly Mint Bakery in Truro had closed. It has not closed and continues in business as usual . We apologize for this error.

Errors & Omissions: The Second World War is long over, but still a source of confusion

Saturday, 24 September 2011

Everybody gets it wrong about the Second World War. David Cameron and Tony Blair, for instance, are both on record as implying the United States was a belligerent in 1940.

Errors & Omissions: Descriptions with which you might – or might not – strike lucky

Saturday, 17 September 2011

Last month, after a picture caption had called an infantry fighting vehicle a tank, this column ventured on an explanation of what is and is not a tank. We described what characteristics define a tank, and ended with the words: "Otherwise call it an armoured vehicle, and you won't be wrong."

Errors & Omissions: Oil and petrol don't usually mix – rather like these metaphors

Saturday, 10 September 2011

Pouring oil on troubled waters is one of the most popular demonstration displays at the Museum of Ancient Metaphoric Curiosities, almost as popular with the kiddies as the daily demonstrations of battening down the hatches and changing horses in mid-stream.

Stephen Lee Davies

Thursday, 8 September 2011

In our article “Man cleared of 'sex in his sleep' rape charge” (5 July 2011) we stated that Stephen Lee Davies had been acquitted of rape after arguing that he had been suffering from sexsomnia. We now understand that Mr Davies’s defence was that he did not commit the alleged offence. Although the court heard evidence that Mr Davies may have been suffering from sexsomnia there was no finding that he had been at the time of the alleged offence.

Errors & Omissions: We, as a seafaring nation, should get the terminology right

Saturday, 3 September 2011

Last Saturday's paper carried a full-page photograph of the Gloria, the Colombian navy's sail training ship, passing through Tower Bridge. A magnificent spectacle, but the caption lowered the tone a bit at one point, when it said: "The Gloria's central mast measures 133ft."

Errors & Omissions: The stars of today would make Cary and Marlene turn in their graves

Saturday, 27 August 2011

To take pleasure in watching people making fools of themselves is a form of cruelty akin to those 18th-century outings to Bedlam to laugh at the lunatics.

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