I picked up a freebie paper and the headline graunched in my head, making me flinch.

But...

Is it wrong?

The headline: "How Uganda use our cash?"

Ignoring the question mark, which is just horrid, it feels like it should be either "How Uganda used our cash" or "How Uganda used our cash".

It _might_ be defensible if Uganda was treated as a plural, but surely that is unusual to say the least.

Am I wrong to be offended?
G

Wow - I haven't heard graunch. I checked it at the Urban dictionary, which gives 6 (no less!) meanings, two of which are kissing-related.
But I think Gaius doesn't intend that meaning. No - it's a step up from a graze.

I agree. I don't like that heading. Smacks of incompetence or ignorance.

How Uganda uses our cash, or How Ugandans use our cash.

(for saving the gorillas, I hope, but probably making some corrupt dictator super-rich) Oh, cynical me.

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=graunch

I was probably thinking of this:

graunch
to damage something by using excessive force, often with the use of an incongruos implement

"i can't seem to close this lid, it looks like someone's tried to graunch the fucker open"

<Added>

(Though that should probably have been "the headline graunched the inside of my head, making me flinch".)

I initially wrote a reply confirming that the sentence was wrong and how much it irritates me that journalists don't read through their work before publishing. I think it's lazy and it's a poor effort.

Having said that, after reading the sentence many times, I started to question myself. They are using Uganda as a plural. Is that right? Can a country be a plural in this example?

'How Uganda uses our cash' or 'How Uganda use our cash'

Surely not. Surely, a country is singular. Being a little obsessive when it comes to such matters I did some research. Have a look at the following:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page51.shtml

Gaius, I agree with you. I think it's incorrect.

Yes, it made me grind my teeth too, although maybe not graunch...love the word though, I may have to work out how to use it.

I agree that it looks grammatically wrong, but it the same thing can be said about other examples of the same sort of muddled singular/plural subjects in sentences. Things such as:

The government are going to pass legislation.

The company are taking on warehouse staff.

The council are resurfacing the road.

Yes, they graunch with me - just like a gearstick failing to find the gears.

I agree that "Uganda" feels very singular here, so it does graunch a bit (great word!)

But according to Fowler, in British English (less so in American English) there are plenty of nouns which can be treated as singular or plural, according to the sense of the whole sentence.

The team is coming to town on Wednesday.

The team are nursing various injuries.

The marketing department is being re-arranged.

The marketing department are working very hard.

etc. etc.

Personally, I'm all for listening to the real sense of the sentence, and fine-tuning a rule for that. So I'm on the BrEng side!