#247

The Times, October 26, 2017

Aaargh. I must have seen this heading scores of times. This is my entry in the Cliches section of Style Matters:

up, up and away on any story about balloons, helicopters or assorted flying objects. This was the title of a truly frightful 60s pop song, and it hasn’t got any better for being dragged out at regular intervals for nearly 50 years. I am begging you.

To prove the point, the Daily Express came up with the same lazy, banal line:

Daily Express, October 26, 2017

PS: I’ve just noticed ‘born aloft’ in the second line. ‘Born’ means that his mother gave birth to him in the air. The word for ‘carried’ is ‘borne’.

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