Cracker of a malapropism on BBC News

[Chersfrozenface]

A cracker on the BBC news site. Not the Beeb's fault, for a change, as it's a direct quotation.

'mothballed' instead of 'snowballed'.

"I've been speaking to Kevin Fortey, whose family first started the tradition of the giant vegetable competition.

"It started off in the 80s with a tiny seed and it's mothballed now into this huge spectacle," he says."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c6x2zd90e49et

I'm just glad this important event is being covered live.

Is that sarcasm? May not mean much to some, but BBC News caters for a wide audience and there will be many gardeners who’d stop and listen. Let there be some joy in life, please.

As giant orange vegetables go, it beats Trump hands down, that's for sure.

Brilliant! 🤣

“"It started off in the 80s with a tiny seed and it's mothballed now into this huge spectacle," he says."

You’re right, OP: that really is a cracker!

Love this! Could they not have added (sic) to the article… or is that going too far

Either whoever wrote the piece didn't know that it was wrong, or was terrified of being labelled "classist" for drawing attention to the speaker's error

This being the BBC, either is possible.

Two very well expressed points.