Am I going mad? Has there been a global announcement that I have missed regarding a change in meaning of the word ‘random’? Why do I seem to be the only one who minds when people describe events as “random” when they are, in fact, anything but random?

This morning on BBC Radio 1 a newsreader, a newsreader by the name of David Garrido, when introducing a clip from an interview with a player from the French rugby league team the Catalans Dragons, said the following:

He’s French but spent a lot of time playing rugby in Australia, so stand by for possibly the most random accent ever.

The sportsman in question was then heard talking in an accent that can only be described as half French, half Australian. How random! I had a similar random experience this morning when I got in my car, put the key in the ignition, turned it and the engine randomly started!

Grrr.

It’s not random, you idiot. It’s unusual, it’s peculiar, it’s possibly even a little bit bizarre but in no way is it random. It would be random if a Frenchman living for an extended period of time in Australia started to speak with a Jamaican accent or a broad Scottish brogue.

I shouldn’t really pick on David, he’s far from alone. I just expect more from a BBC journalist – even a sports reporter.

You can listen to the broadcast in question here, the offending sentence occurs on the 40 minute mark so you might want to use the skip function.

**UPDATE**
It appears the link I used was to the most recent broadcast, so as of Tuesday that link was incorrect. I’ve fixed it now. That link will work until 10am (GMT+1) next Monday.