This blog has another hero: Alan Berg, a district judge in Manchester.Here he is, as quoted by the Daily Telegraph, sentencing someone who head-butted a love rival during filming earlier this year:
"The circumstances of this case are exceptional and the provocation involved seems to be paramount. I have had the misfortune of viewing The Jeremy Kyle Show and I feel bound to make some observations in that regard.A great piece of judging there.
"It seems to me that the whole purpose of The Jeremy Kyle Show is to effect a morbid and depressing display of disfunctional (sic.) people who are in some kind of turmoil.
"It is for no more and no less than titillating members of the public who have nothing better to do with their mornings than sit and watch…a human form of bear baiting which goes under the guise of entertainment."
... "The people responsible for this– namely the producers – should in my opinion be in the dock with you."
"Disfunctional" is probably perfectly well formed, even if it isn't in the dictionary. Two Latin elements (dis- and functional) are better than one Greek (dys-) and one Latin, and "dis" is widely perceived as a general intensified negating prefix, as in "disrespect", "dishonour" and so on.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe the journalist just cannot spell "dysfunctional".
ReplyDeletePerhaps debates of this sort could take the place of the Jeremy Kyle Show?
Thanks for alerting me to this story - I've taken it and run with it a bit.
ReplyDelete