Information Research Weblog

If anyone has had a word with the Editor by now, I imagine that the Financial Times will be a little embarrassed as a result of a slip by one Ben Hunt, writing on ‘Rivals seek clearer line on BT’s future’. He writes:

After a week of running a fine tooth-comb through BT’s proposals for a new regulatory structure for the industry, the group’s rivals have concluded that the plans do not represent the basis for a fair settlement.

Of course, the emphasis there is mine: there is no such thing as a ‘tooth-comb’ and I wonder what Mr. Hunt imagined its purpose might be? The correct phrase is, ‘a fine-toothed comb’ – the kind of thing that mothers used to (perhaps still do in some places) run through their kids’ hair, searching for hair lice. In spoken English it is often carelessly mis-pronounced to sound like ‘fine tooth-comb’, but surely when written down it is an obvious nonsense?