One quote, two opposing interpretations

A Daily Mail article from last year (click for a larger image):


I am intrigued by the quote from Ann Robinson at the top of the second column: "We cannot under-estimate the impact higher household energy prices will have on customers."

Presumably Robinson means that the impact of higher energy prices shouldn't be underestimated; that to do so would be unwise. However when I first read the article I took her to be saying that it was impossible to underestimate the impact of higher prices; in other words, that the impact would be so small as to be negligible. This, obviously, conflicts with what Robinson says next.

One quote, two opposing interpretations. Context indicates which one is correct.

Online version of the story from This is Money


Happy new year, by the way, and I hope your energy bills aren't too high in 2009...

Mariah Carey: not a diva

Free London paper Metro included an interesting quote from singer Mariah Carey the other day:

"I don't believe I'm truly nasty. I've never done one diva-ish thing in my life," she said. "The definition of a diva is a woman who sings well."

Um, right. So a diva sings well, but Mariah has never done one diva-ish thing, so logic would suggest that Mariah has never sung well...

(And I was going to link the same Metro article online but it appears to have been taken down. Wonder why?)

Mariah: Sofa, so good

Fear is a great guard dog

Back to work after the long Christmas break and one of the first pieces of copy I sub contains this phrase:

Fear is a great guard dog but a very poor guide

This sounds like a proverb or a quotation, but if so it's a new one on me and Apus. It isn't listed in our reference books and Google fails to shed any light on it.

Anyone else out there heard this one before – or has one of our writers been reading too many horoscopes? Which reminds me: happy new year...

Not a great guard dog, unlike fear