Ria Bacon: editor & writer

Linguist with wanderlust,
From the hills of New Guinea to the halls of the Sorbonne,
From the beaches of Bassam to the fields of Friesland,
From the catacombs of Rome to the Blue Mountains of Jamaica.
From the heather of the Veluwe to the dust of Dakar ...

Currently resident in the Land of Sea with a small tribe of kids and Mr B.

Tweet Blender

Currently translating a manual on how to make a handpump. Background research takes ages but gives great feeling of learning something new.
1 week ago
@RiaBacon helloooo! i've been suffering from exactly the same problem.
2 weeks ago
@lucypepper Good to hear from you. Real life is getting in the way of my virtual self. Maybe I should outsource the overworked part.
2 weeks ago
Fat tax now! RT @AP In 20 years, some 42 percent of the U.S. population will be obese, new government report says: http://t.co/ImZK2ETt -EF
2 weeks ago
@RiaBacon i read that as: Fresh post... random outbreak. Need more sleep.
2 weeks ago

Stet in a cloud

Ria fotografia

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Now hear dis!

FYI

Stet means "Let it stand" and is used by editors to indicate that the original text should be left untouched.

...in Arcadia ego is a pun on a painting by Poussin.

Stet is a proud member of


    expatriate

Contact

Ria[dot]Bacon[at]gmail.com

Diggin’ deeper

Since the beginning of the Trafigura scandal here in Jamaica [catch up here], it is noticeable that, if there are not many outright lies in this affair, there are certainly many people being “economical with the truth”, to use that celebrated expression.

At the moment, there is still a degree of fuzziness about the gift/bribe.

Continue reading Diggin’ deeper

Writing wrongs

Taking a break from the political meltdown here in Jamaica, I got a tip-off from a fellow editor in Rome about a new term for spellcheck mis-corrections: The Cupertino Effect.

The origin of the term, coined at the Language Log, is from the the common mistyping of “cooperation” as “cooperatino”. Bizarrely, certain spellcheckers offer “Cupertino”

Continue reading Writing wrongs

Chase dem crazy baal’eads

[cont.] Colin Campbell resigned.

I am not going to say that there is no corruption taking place; I would be crazy and stupid to say that.

- Colin Campbell, 1993 Gleaner Editors’ Forum

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]

Here comes the conman Coming with his con plan We won’t take no bribe,

Continue reading Chase dem crazy baal’eads

A bribe by any other name

… is still a bribe.

[cont.] The money given by Trafigura Beheer B.V. to the ruling People’s National Party (PNP) was originally described by both parties as a donation. Since then, Trafigura realized that it was illegal in Jamaica for a company with a contract with the government to give contributions to that same government.

Continue reading A bribe by any other name

Tis the season to be silly

In the UK, the “silly season” in the media refers to the summer period when parliament is on recess. In Jamaica, I was surprised to note, the “silly season” begins when the politicians start gearing up for election.

The first sign for me was the huge headline in the Observer last week:

COMMUNIST PLOT IN

Continue reading Tis the season to be silly