Bad Usage Makes Humorous Reading (1)

Le présent article a été rédigé par Jonathan Goldberg, que je remercie. 

On 2 March the British Daily Mail website showed the following picture of the embattled Libyan leader:

Under the picture there appeared the following text:

 "Floundering tyrant: Gaddafi, pictured last night as he made a series of bizarre statements, has had billions of pounds worth of his assets frozen along with his daughter and four sons". (31 words)

What the writer might have stated, in correct English, was: “Floundering tyrant: Gaddafi, pictured last night as he made a series of bizarre statements, has, along with his daughter and four sons, had billions of pounds worth of his assets frozen ". (31 words)

But that would have suggested that the Libyan ruler was pictured together with his five children, which was not the case.  The word “his” would also be unsuitable because the assets frozen belonged to all six members of the family.

Another formulation, also perhaps not perfect, might have been “Floundering tyrant: Billions of pounds worth of assets belonging to Gaddafi (pictured last night as he made a series of bizarre statements) and to his daughter and four sons, have been frozen.” (32 words)

But to refer to assets frozen along with members of the Gaddafi family, as the British newspaper did, raises the question: Could a big enough freezer be found for all six Gaddafis?

The Libyan rebels would prefer the Gaddafi family to be sent to a hotter place. 

But until that happens, Gaddafi is finally being given the cold shoulder by the international community.