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As we were discussing welsh (mis)pronunciation, I had my memory jogged of the powerful Pete Seeger protest song "The bells of Rhymney", covered by lots of other Americans (The Byrds and Bob Dylan to name two).

Unfortunately they all pronounce Rhymney "Rimney", rather than "Rumny" (ish).

Yet again a writer has assumed that a shotgun fires bullets. Don't they do any research?
(I've forgotten the exact book!)

Laugh of the day from SpaceX describing their rocket crash as a 'rapid unscheduled disassembly'.

I've complained about this before, but the Rugby international weekend has exacerbated it - why do the commentators describe the Italian side as "the Azuri" rather than "the Azzuri" (pronounced "Atzuri")? You can't imagine that they would ever order a "piza"!

I've said this before, but I'm fed up with sports commentators saying "can't be underestimated" when they mean "can't be overestimated". Do they not listen to themselves?

The Ritz held a well deserved tea-party for surviving war veterans. Some of the small, individual flags they gave out were upside down.

Can someone clarify 'ironic'?

A BBC report today describes the capture of an aggressive Harris hawk by a Mr Harris as 'ironic'. Wouldn't 'coincidental' be more accurate?

I thought irony was a mild form of sarcasm, often tending towards understatement.

I have also heard the term used when a new football manager's first game is against his former club. Again I would call that coincidence.

I have a vague memory from English lessons of Shakespeare using 'dramatic irony'. Maybe that's something else again.

The BBC say about Russel Brand "the comedian and actor has been interviewed by police multiple times...after multiple accusations of serial assault..."
What's wrong with the word several?

I understand irony to mean there's a deeper significance than the literal one. It can be sarcastic but not necessarily. I think coincidence would be a better word in those examples.

And dramatic irony is when the audience knows something that characters on the stage do not.

"Multiple" is in fashion at the moment when "many" or "several" would be better words. It will become less common in time, just as people don't start everything they say with "so..." quite so much. And Australian question intonation has been rightly ridiculed, so we hear it less often.

Tyke

Nice weather for the start of the season, but not great cricket for us yet. I might have a day at Headingley at the weekend.