Heaneyland!

Words, words, words

More tales of language from the office. In the elevator this morning, I was captivated by the mysterious headline "Home Depot nails target". In the context of a full news article, it's not so opaque, but it's a terrible headline all by itself. Is it about store competition, and they forgot to capitalize "Target"? Is Home Depot selling a game based on darts, but in which the players use nail guns? So many questions.

Also, Emily tells me I missed a memorable fire alert this morning. Apparently there really was a fire, albeit a small one (in the cafeteria kitchen, on one of the stoves) that was speedily extinguished. What I'm saying is, the alarm was not unwarranted! We really did receive a condition! But even more interesting, from the point of view of a fire-command-station anthropologist, is that this warranted alarm uncovered a new word-choice oddity. Emily reports that once the fire was out, this announcement came over the intercom: "The problem has been restored." I think that's the exact phrase that went through my head when Bush was re-elected.