Mission to Monte Carlo
My work is going to fund me (partly) to do some study, which is nice. I've just been looking at the application form. I have to submit a page listing my personal achievements. As it happens, I just received the Zombologist Achievement playing Plants vs Zombies. Should I include that, do you think?
Today I read a news article. It was about the Murdoch papers and phone hacking and whatnot, although that's neither here nor there. Here are two sentences from it:
They complained to the plod, who had ignored numerous inquiries from celebs about possible hacking hitherto -- but couldn't ignore the royals.
Charlie, a horse breeder and Cotswoldian by profession, who is accused of disposing of evidence on his wife's behalf, some of it possibly captured on CCTV -- and some of it involving chucking a briefcase behind a bin in a public car park, as the plod closed in.
The plod, singular? He's not talking about an individual here; he's using 'the plod' as a direct substitute for 'the police', but that's not right, is it? It's 'Mr Plod' or 'the plods', plural, surely? Or neither, in a serious news article, but I don't really expect better from this particular writer.
Today I read a news article. It was about the Murdoch papers and phone hacking and whatnot, although that's neither here nor there. Here are two sentences from it:
They complained to the plod, who had ignored numerous inquiries from celebs about possible hacking hitherto -- but couldn't ignore the royals.
Charlie, a horse breeder and Cotswoldian by profession, who is accused of disposing of evidence on his wife's behalf, some of it possibly captured on CCTV -- and some of it involving chucking a briefcase behind a bin in a public car park, as the plod closed in.
The plod, singular? He's not talking about an individual here; he's using 'the plod' as a direct substitute for 'the police', but that's not right, is it? It's 'Mr Plod' or 'the plods', plural, surely? Or neither, in a serious news article, but I don't really expect better from this particular writer.