This cartoon by Paul Thomas from The Daily Express relates to news that the Olympic Stadium will be transformed into the "British countryside" for the opening ceremony of the London 2012 Games on 27 July. A cast of 10,000 volunteers will help recreate country scenes, against a backdrop featuring farmyard animals and landmarks like Glastonbury Tor. Read more >>
The cartoon shows the Olympic Stadium countryside set complete with wind turbines. One of the spectators comments, "Might have known there'd be a wind farm".
EXPLANATION
There are currently 320 onshore windfarms in UK, a third of them in England. Many more are awaiting construction or planning permission. The joke is that no representation of the British countryside seems complete without a wind farm.
GRAMMAR
1. "Might have known ..." is an example of ellipsis. Normally, you would say, "I might have known", but in informal spoken English, the subject is sometimes omitted. • Can't imagine why you'd think that. • Don't know how that happened. • Should've been more careful.
2. "there'd" is a contraction of "there would". The construction is complicated, but quite common. • Might have known you'd say that.
ALSO SEE
• Hundreds of farm animals, a cricket pitch, maypoles and fake clouds that rain...the vision of Britain the world will see at the £27m Olympic opening (Mail Online)
• Andy Davey cartoon (The Sun)
• Mac cartoon (Daily Mail)
