It has been said by male chauvinist pigs (there’s a super-hackneyed cliché for you) that “knitting is something for women to think about when they’re talking”. But the following utterances were all made by male television reporters or interviewees in the year 2008:
“Bernard Matthews will continue to take its toll” (referring to outbreak of bird flu or some such disease in the firm's turkey houses).
“Houses have to be built with adaptations ready made” (re accommodation for the elderly).
“ . . . to make sure the toads get across the road in one piece” (explaining why special crossings have been made for them).
The last example was no doubt semi-facetious (though we may wonder how a toad could ever get across the road in more than one piece), and the middle one could be justified by saying that the term 'adapt' doesn't govern the physical structure of the house, but (abstract) traditional design: but if you can’t see anything strange about these statements, spare a little time to think them through carefully.
Brain disengaged
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