Monthly Archives: January 2004

, visiting family and letting my poor nerves recover from the stress of Beeb-watching. But I did scribble this one down specially for B-BBC. On 31st Dec, the Ceefax news index on page 102 said “122- Israeli troops shoot protestors.” Sounds bad, said I, thinking about the deaths or injuries implied by the word “shoot”, and grimly set the remote to page 122. It turned out that the only things shot were tear gas and rubber bullets. No injuries, let alone deaths, were mentioned. I assume that rubber bullets and (I think) tear gas canisters are usually dispensed by pulling a trigger and hence the use of the verb “to shoot” may be literally correct. But tell me, given the way the English language is used in practice, do you think the headline accurately reflects the contents of the story?