'Yes!' I thought last Friday as I heard a listener's letter on Radio 4's PM asking why the Australian flood area was being compared, for no obvious reason, with the "the size of France and Germany combined".
The listener complained that the recognised unit for media descriptions of very large areas has always been "the size of Wales".
PM capped its listener's contribution with a reading from its own version of the BBC Producer Guidelines, which had this to say about official units of comparison:
"Producers should take care when providing listeners with size comparisons ... area should in the first instance be compared to 'a football pitch', then, on an ascending scale, Luxembourg, Wales, Australia, and finally 'the budget deficit'.
On no account should size comparisons be made with 'France and Germany combined'. Failure to comply with this strict rule will result in programmes being referred immediately to Ofcom."
Great stuff.
But on Wednesday, Jeremy Bowen on the Today programme introduced an item on 'Lebanon's tenacious wine makers' with these words:
"Lebanon is a small country, almost exactly half the size of Wales ..."
"Small"? You should expect some complaints, Jeremy.
