Fury on the piste
Accepted definition of fury (courtesy of Dictionary.com):
fu·ry [fyoor-ee]
–noun,plural-ries.
1. unrestrained or violent anger, rage, passion, or the like: The gods unleashed their fury on the offending mortal.
2. violence; vehemence; fierceness: the fury of a hurricane; a fury of creative energy.
Daily Mail definition of fury: possible mild annoyance, unconfirmed.
Example (including witty punnery): It’s wor! Geordies’ fury over advert which brands them too poor to go on skiing holidays
Having looked for the fury, which has apparently materialised without this advert appearing in any publications in the North, I found some quotes from Tory MEP for the North East of england, Martin Callanan, actress Anne Reid, and broadcaster Dr Miriam Stoppard. I suspect The Mail phoned them up to get their views in an attempt to garner some actual fury.
Surely anybody who was provoked into fury by this advert would have complained to the Advertising Standards Authority?
A spokesman for the Advertising Standards Authority said last night it was unable to investigate the campaign as it has not received any complaints from members of the public.
Perhaps the headline should have read, ‘Mail furious at lack of fury about advert for skiing’.
Superb.Perhaps an additional sense needs to be added to the dictionaries to describe the Mail's definition of "fury".
Actually, we could probably make a mini-dictionary of Mailisms and their meanings.Outrage = a few raised eyebrowsShock = mildly surprisedhorror = slightly perturbed:)