Perfect perfection

From Greg Newell:

My pet peeve as a sports writer/editor is the dreaded reference
to a PERFECT 18-0 record or a PERFECT 9-0 or perfect any record that includes only wins. There is no such thing as an IMPERFECT 18-0,
is there?

Oh, those evil geniuses

From Bill Case:

I’ve noticed a tad bit of grade-inflation in the use of the word
mastermind” in describing criminals. One local broadcast
this week used the term to describe a teenage lout who convinced two
of his peers to rob a drugstore (actually THE drugstore) in a small
town in rural West Virginia. Since everybody knows everybody else
in this particular town — and the trio of louts left a clear trail
of footprints in the snow — all were apprehended shortly after the
fact. I think we need some kind of minimum level of competence for
criminal masterminds.

Leaf it to us

Adam M. Gaffin has had it with:

Leafy suburb” and “gritty former mill
town
.” Sometimes when reading the Boston Globe, you get the
idea that those are the only two types of communities in eastern Massachusetts.

Scrambling on the battle lines

From Ian Trontz:

  • Battle lines were drawn” to describe any controversy
    (sometimes preceded by “Tempers flared”).
  • Where (insert dominant local livestock here)
    outnumber humans” to describe any rural area.
  • Scrambling.” About half the nation’s newspapers
    must have run stories following the aborted American Airlines strike
    that read, “leaving the airline scrambling.” That would
    cause a disaster the likes of which the NTSB has never seen. The word
    never again should appear outside of a football story.
  • Thoughts of brainchildren

    Sharyn Wizda proffers these peeves:

  • Describing any profile subject as “the thinking man’s (or
    woman’s) sex symbol
    .”
  • Describing somebody’s new product as his or her “brainchild.”
  • Describing any Rocky Mountain town smaller than Denver as “nestled
    at the foot of snow-capped peaks
    .”
  • In any crime story: “This close-knit community has been
    shaken by the tragedy
    ….”
  • Range radar

    Ron Landfried requests an end to range roving;
    to wit:

  • I’m tired of writers who use the shorthand “ranging from” or “everything from …. to…… ” to describe a bunch of miscellaneous stuff. Unless you’re talking about numbers
    ranging from one to 10, no one knows what’s between the two extremes,
    including the writers.
  • Here are the greatest hits from the Landfried Collection

    • Dec. 17

      New York Times: How could it be otherwise in a society that blatantly
      uses sex to sell everything from sneakers to beer?

    • Jan. 6

      Herald-Sun: The board went over a raft of proposals that covered
      everything from library funding to tax-collection rate accounting
      methods.

    • Feb. 12

      Chapel Hill Herald: Efthimios “Tommy” Mariakakis served
      up everything from hot dogs to stuffed grape leaves in more than 50
      years of running restaurants here.

    (editor’s note: I believe these dates are 1996-97).

    Now, maverick

    From Mordecai Specktor:

  • There’s the frequently used description of Ross Perot as a “maverick
    billionaire
    .” (Maybe this is more an oxymoron than a cliche).
  • At this point in time,” which means “now,”
    has come into the lexicon.
  • Rocking, rolling

    From Keith Ammann:

  • When a recent double bombing at an abortion clinic occurred, I was
    reminded of something about bombs: Bombs ALWAYS “rock
    their targets. Of the three daily papers in our metro area, ALL THREE
    had some variation of “Two bombs rock abortion clinic.”
    Two ran the AP story, which used the word “rock” in the
    lead, while one ran the Washington Post story, which also used the
    word “rock” in the lead. And the night before, on the local
    news, the anchor woman said that bombers had “hit” an abortion
    clinic -then BACKED UP and CORRECTED herself, using the word “rocked”
    instead.
  • The thing is, you never actually see a building rocking back and
    forth after being bombed. Usually it just sits there, with a big hole
    in it.
  • Dreams to nightmares

    From Ed Hersh

  • I’m a former newspaper reporter, now a producer at ABC News, and
    have spent the better part of my career collecting bad TV cliches.
    In fact, I once produced a noon newscast on KYW TV in Philly on a
    July 4th, and it rained. I counted no less than THREE uses of “the
    rain didn’t dampen the spirits of…” during the first 10 minutes
    of the program.
  • Here are a few more:

  • …Only time will tell
  • It was supposed to xxx’s dream house. But last night, a fire turned xxx’s dream… into a nightmare.
  • Roads are slippery, so officials say if you don’t HAVE to go out… for gosh sakes, don’t.
  • Negotiations are continuing, but both sides say they’re prepared for a long strike.
  • “It sounded like a freight train,” said one terrified
    resident.
  • People here say they’re hoping for the best… but preparing for the worst.