Policemen talking bollocks
It's a strange thing, but when policemen talk to the press, they use a special bollocks language. Such as when a siege in Queensland, Australia, ended after the suspect shot at police and was killed when they returned fire. According to Queensland Police's Assistant Commissioner Tony Wright:
"He has been challenged by police at that point in time - he has fired at those police," he told reporters on Tuesday. "Specialist police have returned fire. The male person has been shot and that male person has been declared deceased at the scene."
Assuming that a leprechaunesque sense of humour has not overtaken the BBC, or any intermediary reporters, and setting aside AC Wright's mangling of tenses, I don't understand why a male person
(of defined age) cannot simply be referred to as a man
.
I wonder if this is one of those marketing mind-tricks. Like selling a car for £19,995, rather than £20,000; and then announcing the price on TV/radio as one-nine-nine-nine-five pounds, rather than one thousand, nine hundred and ninety five pounds. (thinking)