annabellelukin
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Will, Kate, the ABC and 'commoners'

8/13/2013

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Picture
I am trying to find exactly the right word to describe how I feel when I hear serious, experienced, political ABC journalists use the word ‘commoner’.

The first time in my recent memory was on the occasion of the wedding of Will and Kate.
Two distinguished Australian journalists, Mark Colvin and Emma Alberici, discussed, with all seriousness, the mode of locomotion Kate Middleton would be relying on to get to Westminster Abbey, since, as a ‘commoner’, she wasn’t entitled to go by royal carriage.

Right.

And now, with the arrival of another heir to the English throne, I hear, in a lather of great excitement, Fran Kelly on Radio National Breakfast interviewing a ‘veteran’ royal watcher.



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Putting words in journalists' mouths: "transferee"

12/2/2012

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Google the word “transferee” and you’ll turn up a lot of definitions. You’ll see links to dictionary definitions, or contractual definitions of the term. The absence of any links to actual usage of the word in the flow of text suggests it is an uncommon word with a very specific usage.

Its definition in legal terms is “one to whom a conveyance of title or property is made”. You wouldn’t hear that word too often, unless you were in the business. A search of the google book corpus suggests this is its most frequent context.

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    Annabelle Lukin is a linguist in the Centre for Language in Social Life, Macquarie University.

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