Bad Copy-editing

Here’s proof (Sunday Times, 20 April 2008) that foreign talent doesn’t necessarily mean good English.

Ex-pat is illiterate; make it expat (check, for example, Oxford). And consider this abomination:

‘This is a time of year when Canadians, Americans, Swedes, Fins (sic) and their northern brethren are bombarded with natural cues that signal the end of a long winter.’

Fins? As in what one finds on aquatic creatures?

At least he spelt barbecuing right …