There are a few nifty turns of phrase in the Anchorage Daily News in a story by Beth Bragg as two volcanoes fire up in the Aleutions – hazard to few who aren’t in airplanes that get into the plumes.

Start with the hed calling it an ash-fest, but then go on to Bragg’s 2nd graf. Now, The Tracker often advises starting journalists to help sources along with quotes. If their syntax, grammar, or metaphors are fouled up and one is not specifically trying to portray their modes of conversation, paraphrase or otherwise turn it into decent English. But once in awhile somebody’s hasty quote may be loopy but is so nice it’s worth leaving entire and as is.

Hence, one is grateful she allowed a geophysicist to tell her readers that, volcano-wise, “Things are very hopping.”

The story also has, among the usual news in such accounts and even a bit of geophysics,  little gems scattered throughout. Mount Cleveland, one of those active now, is “usually a one-puff volcano … it’s a funny little volcano,” a source tells her. Then there is the case of the man who went for a walk on Chuginadak Island in 1944 right when Mount Cleveland decided to puff.

Grist for the Mill: Alaska Volcano Observatory ;

-CP

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Science Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.