Freelance Unbound

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Spotted twice yesterday in papers that should know better – two stories baring the writer’s ignorance of simple English.

The London Standard story This isn’t just a decline … it’s a Marks and Spencer decline noted:

The store front is fading and a little grotty. The shop sign seems left over from the Fifties, baring little resemblance to the designer logo that appears in the adverts and in the branches in sexier parts of town.

Meanwhile, here’s booming City free paper City A.M. on an impending shake-up of BBC Worldwide:

Analysts say the BBC is likely to maintain a strong editorial influence over the products, especially those baring the branding of its programming, over which it is fiercely protective.

So:

“Baring” is exposing something to public view – your soul, your body, your linguistic ineptitude.

“Bearing” is carrying the weight of something – a resemblance, a brand history, the burden of literacy.

Please, please, high-profile media – try to understand the meaning of basic English words.

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