Now, I like British newspapers. I particularly like British newspaper websites; sure, the design is horrifically clunky and it’s impossible to find what you want, but you often find what you actually need (hey, is that a British informatics archetype? I seem to have heard it somewhere before). Compared to the CBC, for instance, the layout of the Guardian Online is an impeccable nested article-delivery device. Why the CBC prefers to present no more than a dozen stories on one subject area at one time, no matter how many clicks you may give it, is a mystery to all but the mandarins in Ottawa and they all get the news from their servants. But that is a communications failure rant for another time.
This time, we’re talking about (aboot?) those slight idiosyncratic variations in phrasing and meaning from one continent to the next. You know, how the British sports writing is only seemingly written in English and how we in The Americas still use the word “gotten” and that sort of thing. We’re talking about the truck/lorry issue, really.
Or if we’re not, Britain must be much more lively than I’ve always heard.
We are talking about this harmless-looking article on good places for beach and snorkling holidays with good access to clubs and nightlife. Demanding people, they are. Probably expect to get Newcastle Brown there as well, but that’s beside the point.
The point is that on the front page of The Esteemed Guardian, this article is tagged with the drop-down descriptor:
Can you answer reader questions on water sports holidays?
Well, can you? I’ll start.
















