Saturday, September 5th, 2009

Subbing tip #6: flak or flack?

When someone comes under attack for something or other, many journalists pull out the old anti-aircraft metaphor to describe it. But here, sadly, their ignorance starts to show. “Flak” comes from a German acronym for anti aircraft fire – Fl(ieger)a(bwehr)k(anone). A “flack” is a slightly derogatory North American term for a publicity agent. So ditch […]