Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Let’s get rid of journalese
Let’s
talk about journalese, that twisted language peculiar to news writing. It looks
almost like English, but it’s a weird form of the mother tongue. Its principal
features are shopworn words and phrases, cliches, epithets used as synonyms for
names, hype verbs to convey phony excitement, odd syntax and compression of
sentences into bizarre forms.
In journalese, events are not begun or started. They
are “kicked off” or “launched.” Plans are not announced, made public or revealed.
They are “unveiled.” (Have you ever seen a veil on a plan?)
In normal English, we would write that Jim was born
and reared in New York and joined the Army when he was 19. In journalese, this
becomes a non sequitur: A native of New York, Jim joined the Army when he was
19. It’s a non sequitur because one fact is not shown to be a cause of the
other. Jim might have joined the Army if he were a native of Peoria.
In normal English, we would say that Susan has two
children or is the mother of two children. In journalese, this is artificially
compressed into an awkward epithet: the mother of two.
Journalists use such epithets, presumably, because
they think they are tight writing. “The car salesman” is shorter than “Jim is a
car salesman,” although not by much. Tightness is a poor substitute for
smoothness.
In normal English, we would say that Susan’s home is
at 212 Elm Street. In journalese, this becomes her “212 Elm Street home.” Which
implies that she has other homes. If Susan is wealthy and does indeed have
other homes, OK.
In similar fashion, journalese gives us “the 3 p.m.
fire.” What? Fires are scheduled like buses?
Speaking of homes, in journalese every dwelling is a
“home,” even if it is an abandoned house that has rotted away.(Well, maybe it’s
home to the rats.)
In normal English, we would say that U.S. Senator
Lindsey Graham is a Republican from South Carolina. Journalese: U.S. Senator
Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. That form is fine, by the way, in lists. In leads and
cutlines, it is downright silly.
Journalese is an almalgam of bits taken from other
sources of jargon: copspeak, bureaucratese, academic psychobabble. In the
normal world, for example, children play together and talk with their parents.
In journalese, they “interact.”
Journalese has a vocabulary of worn-out verbs,
besides the ubiquitous kick off, launch and unveil: fueled, sparked, spurred, targeted, triggered, bid, rapped
(for criticized), lashed (ditto) and
the ever-popular hammered.
Journalese has a large (that’s “massive” in
you-know-what) store of cliches, including:
In the wake of
Send a signal
State of the art
Probe
Cautiously optimistic
Mixed reactions
Christmas came early
’tis the season
Bottom line
Manicured lawn
Unsung hero
Oil-rich
War-torn
This list is just a sample. And we haven’t even
touched on cliches in sports.
The trouble with journalese is that it makes our
writing sound tired. A story with riveting facts is dulled when it is couched
in cliches and hype verbs.
Get rid of journalese and the writing will be
fresher even if you never use a clever phrase or simile.
Labels: cliches, journalese
