Another expression coined by Government agency – ‘Contact’

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Another expression coined by Government agency – ‘Contact’

February 11th, 2014 | Author: Editorial

A TRE reader sent in the following recent press release from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) about a collision between 2 ships in Singapore waters on 30 January 2014:
[ LINK ]
30 January 2014

Contact between vessels NYK Themis and AZ Fuzhou

At about 0410hrs on 30 January 2014 (Singapore time), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received a report that a Panama-flagged containership, “NYK Themis”, had collided into a barge “AZ Fuzhou”, at East Keppel Fairway at about 4 km south of Marina South. The barge was being towed by tug “AZ Carnation” at the time. Prior to the incident, MPA’s Port Operations Control Centre informed NYK Themis of the presence of AZ Fuzhou in the fairway.
NYK Themis reported that one of her bunker tanks sustained damage, resulting in some spillage of bunker fuel. Upon notification, MPA immediately dispatched four MPA craft to deal with the spill. Oil spill response companies were also activated to support the clean up efforts.
The two vessels involved in the collision are currently safely anchored and in stable condition. There is no report of injury, and port operations remain unaffected.
MPA is investigating the cause of the collision.
For media enquiries, please call MPA’s media hotline at 8366 2293 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 8366 2293 FREE end_of_the_skype_highlighting .
Even though MPA did say it was a “collision” involving the 2 ships in its press release, they chose to use the word “contact” in the title.
The reader said, “The funny thing is MPA has coined a new word for COLLISION. It is the word CONTACT.”
Anyone glancing at the title of the press release without reading the text will think that the 2 ships probably grazed each other like a minor car accident where the bumper of a car hits another.
The fact is, the damage was so extensive to one of the ships that it resulted in oil spillage. The spillage was so bad MPA had to send 4 craft to deal with it.
The reader produced the definition of the word “contact” from a dictionary:
Definition: Contact
NOUN

1. the state of physical touching.
2. the action of communicating or meeting.
3. a connection for the passage of an electric current from one thing to another, or a part or device by which such a connection is made.

VERB

1. communicate with (someone), typically in order to give or receive information.
2. touch

Clearly, in this case, using the word “contact” in the title by MPA conveys the meaning of “the state of physical touching”. That is to say, just by reading the title alone, one would not think that a serious collision has occurred.
The reader further commented, “Next, they could use PONDING also on OIL SPILLS…”
“Ponding” is a word ingeniously coined by another government agency, the Public Utilities Board (PUB).
In December 2011, when Orchard Road was flooded during a heavy downpour, PUB released a statement saying, “There was no flooding at Orchard Road. However, water ponded at the open area of Liat Towers, the underpass between Lucky Plaza and Ngee Ann City and the basement of Lucky Plaza due to the sustained heavy downpour.”
Most recently, SMRT had 5 incidents of disruption to train service in the short span of a month i.e. January 2014. In the case of the fifth – and latest – incident, SMRT categorically denied any “service disruption” and did not dare even to breathe the word “breakdown” when they answered media queries about passengers being forced to disembark a train whose doors opened and closed about 10 times past 11pm. Some of these inconvenienced passengers eventually took a cab home. Others who had stayed behind managed to board a train that came 11 minutes after the first train stalled.
Perhaps SMRT is smarter than either MPA or PUB in that they avoided coining a new word altogether.
It is not known why MPA chose to use the word “contact” to describe a collision. Perhaps MPA is trying to play down the collision of the 2 ships so as to safeguard its international reputation?
What do you think?


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