While JD's sunning himself in Portugal I'm still enjoying summer at Whitecliff Bay (pictured at the height of an English spring) where I while away the days building sand castles and reading the local papers.
Among the normally cheerful stories of fetes and flower shows I have just read the ghastly tale of a suicide by decapitation with a chainsaw. And in the midst of the awful details a reporter solemnly wrote: "Paramedics and police were called to the flat where a man had suffered serious injuries and was later pronounced dead."
Technically he was correct, in that even a headless corpse is not legally dead until a doctor signs a death certificate. A cub reporter used to covering the humdrum doings of a seaside resort might almost be forgiven for assuming that if the victim was not legally dead he must be described as "seriously injured".
But the sub who left this howler in place – and left me feeling guilty for laughing out loud when I read it – deserves a slap on the wrist, don't you think?
2 comments:
I don't know the details of the story, and don't want to dwell on it for too long, but perhaps the chap in question botched the job and only later died of his injuries. But in that case - would he really be "decapitated"? Something doesn't quite add up.
Nice photo by the way, Apus!
Because if its morbidity, I hesitate to mention this--but here goes. A memo from the USDA came into my inbox today. While fighting a wildfire, a firefighter 'lost his life when he was overrun by the fire front. The probable victim has been identified as' (name). If he might not be a victim, what else could he be?
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