Monthly Archives: February 2004

Make these extinct

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Rick Palkovic sends a few that were missed by previous contributors:

  • Literally: I’m hearing this used as an all-around intensifier,
    usually when the speaker means just its opposite: figuratively. I
    once heard political commentator say: “Congressional leaders
    literally held a gun to the President’s head!” Don’t we have
    laws against this sort of thing?
  • Et al: Everyone seems to be using this when they mean “etc.”
    They seem to think it sounds more intelligent. Better not to use either,
    of course, but use “et al.” for people; “etc.”
    for things.
  • World-class: A term favored by PR flacks when a more accurate
    description is usually “barely competent.”
  • Endangered species: When all the loggers in the Northwest
    lose their jobs, they just have to find other jobs — they aren’t
    dead, and neither are their relatives, much less the whole human race.
    Casual metaphoric use of this phrase trivializes the enormity of driving
    a species into extinction.

    • Under his gun

    Posted on by

    Robert Markle finds the following in his crosshairs:

  • As an avid target-shooter, I am amazed when I hear television reporters
    explaining that during a particular melee, “shots rang out.”
    I have never heard a firearm, irrespective of manufacturer, “ring!”
    Also…
  • “Then, he turned the gun on himself.” What’s wrong
    with “he shot himself?” After all, turning a gun on oneself
    might legitimately describe the act of readjusting a holster.

    • Where is that sky anyway?

    Posted on by

    Rachel Sauer issues this call for freedom from the skies:

    Relating to your “rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of…” I really hate it when reporters go on and on about the sky.

    “Under a clear blue sky…” or “The sky
    overhead was an ominous gray as the people gathered…    ” or
    “Under a blood red sky…” or whatever.

    Aren’t we always under the sky? Anyway, that’s my pet peeve.

    A free pool of blood

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    G. Wong offered the following

    Some words and phrases are blithely used in the local media without
    a second thought as to their sensibilities.

  • Free gift: a gift is free by definition
  • Pool of blood: as in “The man was lying in a pool of
    blood”.
  • Action…. against: a catch-all term to mean punishment without
    saying much. Sometimes the paper, radio or TV stations will proffer
    the details but often won’t, leaving us to read between the lines.
    eg “Action will be taken against Anwar Ibrahim.”
  • Nabbed & transparency: as in detained, and public accountability
    _ the latter often used in govt.-speak to urge agencies or businesses
    to be more transparent.
  • Percentages: often misused when percentage points up or down
    are meant. Telekom Malaysia’s pre-tax profit was down 12 percentage
    points from 48 percent. Hardly the same as a 12 percent reduction.

    • Rot in the newsroom

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    Dave Miller sent this in:

    We finally got an official newsroom stylebook, published not in print
    but on our SII system, and I eagerly took a look (I’d been here less
    than a year). The ‘book contained an entry for “badly decomposed,” noting that would anybody ever describe a dead body as “well decomposed”? The next day, a front-page story told of a woman who had been found dead in her apartment. Her body was — you guessed it — “badly decomposed.” A follow-up story a month later repeated the gaffe.

    A good thing her house didn’t burn down — we might have had the cops “sifting through the rubble.“

    Wretch a sketch

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    Luke Seeman (easily one of the coolest guys on the planet) sends these along:

  • “Sketchy,” as in, “kinda sketchy.” What
    the hell does it mean?
  • “Issues” when people mean to say “problems.”
  • And of course “enough said” and its cousin, “’nuff
    said.” People who use them invariably mean, “There is more
    to be said but I can’t think of it now.”

    • Too much

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    From Donna Migliore

    Please, can’t people stop using the phrase “all too“?
    The meaning of the phrase is all too obscure and it’s used all too often.

    The killer you know

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    Christopher Palmer, who probably lives in a dangerous neighborhood, will be prepared when the inevitable happens:

    When someone commits a terrible crime, the neighbors always say, “He was a quiet guy who always kept to himself” (or some very slight variation). If my neighbor ever commits a crime, I’m telling the reporters, “He was a madman! He wandered around half-naked screaming obscenities! He had sex with goats!” (even if he was a quiet guy who always kept to himself).

    She feels our pain

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    Jennifer Bulat sent these pained sentiments along:

    I’m a copy editor until I die; few I work with understand my perverse love of editing. Here are my pet peeves:

  • “kicked off“: Meetings no longer can begin; they
    have to be “kicked off” by a rousing speech from a congressman
    or some other talking head. This phrase should be confined to football.
  • corporate-speak seeping into the lexicon: People aren’t busy anymore;
    they have “a lot on their plate.” They don’t talk,
    they “have a conversation” about something or “communicate
    that to    ” someone else. They don’t explain things to each
    other; they “make sure we’re all on the same page.”Aaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhh. Make it stop.