Mea Culpa: Vladimir Putin and a plague of frogs

Questions of style and language in last week’s Independent, by John Rentoul

An amphibious amphibian, yesterday (Getty/iStock)

In one of our despatches from the war in Ukraine, we wrote that the city of Odesa “awaits an amphibian, ground and air assault by Russia”. Thanks to Philip Nalpanis for reminding us that “amphibian” is usually a noun referring to a class of animal including frogs, toads and newts. We meant “amphibious”, the adjective meaning suited to both land and water.

“Amphibian” is doubly confusing, though, because it can be an adjective, referring to amphibians (as in amphibian eggs), and as a noun it can also refer to planes, tanks or other vehicles that operate on land and on water. Still, although Vladimir Putin has been accused of contemplating unconventional forms of warfare, a plague of frogs is not his style.

The other side of Hungary: Linda Beeley has written to point out a particularly poor use of “amid” in a headline. We asked: “Amid the war in Ukraine, is it safe to travel to Croatia?” This is not right. Croatia is not in the middle of the war in Ukraine. It doesn’t even border Ukraine. It is 230 miles away. We meant “during”.