COLUMN: MIND YOUR LANGUAGE. Do not complain when you find that your friend is doing ‘MORE BETTER’ than you!

THE nation is reeling from the disaster that hit the commercial area of Kariakoo, when, on a seeming lovely last Saturday morning, a storied building came tumbling down, causing deaths, injuries and extensive damage.

The Daily Blog (17 November) had the news on it’s front page and in thick bold for all to see: “.Kariakoo Tragedy”.

Rescue operations started immediately. One caption below a colourful picture of the tragedy had the following wording: “Members of the rescue team help a survivor of the tragedy to move to ‘the’ safe location”.

It certainly is difficult for many writers to decide whether to use the indefinite article “a”, or the definite article, “the”. In this case, we know nothing about the safe or unsafe location. In a situation of uncertainty, “a” rules supreme. Thus, the caption should be: “Members of the rescue team help a survivor of the tragedy to move to ‘a’ safe location”.

The survivor in question was among the many that were taken from the collapsed building alive. In appreciating the good work done by the rescue teams, the story’s writer told us the following: “The rescue teams began operations, supplying ‘oxygen gas tubes’ to those trapped under the rubble to assist them with fresh air”.

Well, well, well! What the rescuers supplied to those trapped under the rubble was oxygen, no doubt, using tubes, much as there could be alternative ways of getting the gas to the trapped people.

My version would be: “The rescue teams began operations, supplying oxygen to those trapped under the rubble, using tubes and pipes to help them breathe fresh air”.

Please note that we have avoided the phrase “oxygen gas”, as “gas” is redundant. Standing alone, “oxygen” is self-explanatory.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica: “Oxygen is a colourless, odourless, tasteless GAS (at room temperature) essential to living organisms, being taken up by animals, which convert it to carbon dioxide; plants, in turn, utilise carbondioxide as a source of carbon and return the oxygen to the atmosphere”. So: “oxygen”, not: “oxygen gas”. A Cabinet Minister who was at the scene of the disaster is reported to have said: “The government is committed to ensure that everyone ‘is being’ rescued”. Hold on! Why use the present continuous tense?

It is probably not right. I would just go for the present tense, dropping out “being”, to have the sentence read as follows: “The government is committed to ensuring that everyone is rescued”.

Meanwhile, the national flag carrier, Air Tanzania (ATCL), has won accolades from the Parliamentary Committee on Infrastructure.

The Custodian, 12 November (page 3) carried a story , titled: “ATCL applauded for innovative drive to reduce operating costs”, about this. Apparently, ATCL has improved its workshop and is now able to carry out some key repairs and maintenance activities.

The Airline’s Executive Director, is reported as saying: “Previously, ATCL could not even change a tire when it needed maintenance, as it had to send the tire to Nairobi for repairs”.

If you cannot change the tire, how do you send it to Nairobi? Is it a whole aircraft flying to Nairobi for a tire change? The ATCL Executive Director possibly said something else!

Finally, a young lady, on social media, gives us advice, to always be patient waiting for out time to come: I quote her: “You may have completed school in the same year and your friend is doing ‘more better’ that you and you start complaining; it is not yet your time”. Hopefully, you do not wait forever; since there are events that are overtaken by time. There is nothing like “more better”. It is: “good, better, best”, period!

“Do not complain when your friend does better than you”. Bid your time! That is all, for this weekend. Our hearts are with the victims of the Kariakoo collapsed building disaster!

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