Waiting for donkey's ears

My Sunday morning had been spent (wonderfully) with my dear sisters. Over vadai and juice, my sisters and I read the newspapers, laughing cruelly at leaps of logic, shockingly bad English, bad phrases, and generally bad writing. Wendy Cheng has rekindled an interest in newspapers in me, an amazing feat. Today's gem: "donkey's ears" instead of "donkey years". Erm, okay...it's one thing to publish bad English, but bad SINGLISH! Wah lau! Tak boleh angkat, seh. [~loosely translated: Why, it's more than I can bear!]

Her caricature of a 'homeless' man was disturbing in its insensitivity. The man was only interesting to her, it seems to me, in his violation of her personal space and convictions. Viz. "I suppose it could have been because I was startled by his unkempt appearance or his unsettling lack of an arm." Unsettling for whom, my dear?

The whole "Show" page (22, The New Paper) simply underscores the appaling hiring practices of SPH: bad writing seems to be the main criteria to get published, it seems.