Mea Culpa: check your references

Glitches in style and language in last week’s Independent, reviewed by John Rentoul

AJ Odudu and Kai Widdrington, her professional partner (BBC)

As we brought you the news that AJ Odudu, the TV presenter, had pulled out of the Strictly final because of a torn ligament, we quoted her tribute to “someone as special, patient and devoted as Kai”, saying she was “referencing her professional partner, Kai Widdrington”. This seems a stilted and formal way of saying “referring to”, which feels more like the way someone would actually speak in conversation.

Horse shoes: We haven’t had a “shoe-in” for a while, so it was like seeing an old friend after the lockdown when our report of Formula One said that a decision by Michael Masi, the race director, about the rules “made Verstappen a shoe-in for the victory”. Thanks to Roger Thetford for reintroducing me to the phrase, which was changed to “shoo-in”. It refers to (rather than “it references”) the rigging of horse races – all someone has to do is to “shoo” the winner over the line.

More than one: A headline on an Independent TV story said: “Firefighters pull multiple people from rubble after gas explosion in Sicily.” As Paul Edwards reminded me, I have complained about “multiple” before, as I think “several” is more natural. “It is particularly odd here,” he said, “since ‘people’ is already plural; and reading on I see that only two people were actually rescued.” Not only tautological but an overdramatisation too.