Writing "crutches"

[Kelvin Hemholtz]

OK - not exactly a new topic... but there are some things we write in copy that "fit" but if you think about it, just don't make sense. However, we still use these lines all the time.

One I heard tonight: "robbery gone bad." I get it, but when is a robbery "good?"

And how about a "daring robbery in broad daylight." Like it's any less daring at night?

Maybe it's not that annoying to anyone listening at home, but every now and then it just hits me when I hear those items that there is a big implied "duh" involved there.

What's your take?

[Produce man]

Hmm, I think it depends on the person. I've had people never bring these things up, and others who say it drives them nuts.

The one that bothers me right now is at the shop across town. Every night, their tease before weather states "Joe Blow is up next with your complete weather forecast."

As opposed to what, your incomplete weather forecast?

[Michigan J. Frog]

"Up close and personal."

Stop saying this every time you want to suggest an in-depth look at something. Please.

[Mom]

Actually typing the word "well," to start a story. It's Kindergarten News, folks.

[CKMD]

"...is live at..."
As opposed to ..."reporter X is dead at....

[Chief]

"... is behind bars."

Maybe, maybe not. But he's in jail. And most of the jail cells I've ever seen, (on stories) have had steel doors with window slits.

It's one of my pet peeves.

[Banned]

Why not expand the problem of news crutches to stories as well. We do the same stories for stupid people all the time. "How to drive in the snow." If you live in Buffalo and don't know how to yet then it's time to move. What ever happened to original ideas? They aren't in TV news that's for sure.

[Moderate]

Hey veggie man, my met is in the show 3 or 4 times, but only gives the complete 3 minute forecast once. It makes perfect sense to say "Joe Blow is in with your complete forecast". Back to the produce aisle for you veggie man!

[Produce man]

Originally posted by Moderate:
Hey veggie man, my met is in the show 3 or 4 times, but only gives the complete 3 minute forecast once. It makes perfect sense to say "Joe Blow is in with your complete forecast". Back to the produce aisle for you veggie man!No, it' lazy writing, and it's redundant. Back to the edit bay, Claudia.

[Moderate]

1) Lazy writing (lazy and any verb) doesn't make sense, and 2) It is not redundant. IT sure isn't clever, but if you write a WX TZ 8 times a day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks out of the year, you'll never be on spot all the time. And frankly, I ad-lib 'em anyway. But taht must be lazy because I don't write it down and put it in the prompter.

[Produce man]

1.) "Writing" is used as a noun in my statement. It makes perfect sense.

2.) It's redundant unless every wx hit includes a forecast.

And silly rabbit, don't you know EVERYTHING has to be on the anchor's prompter?Silly rabit, don't you know EVERYTHING has to be on the anchor's prompter?

[ November 22, 2006, 08:21 PM: Message edited by: Produce man ]

[2:30]

Any show that leads with the calendar. As in, Millions of Americans are celebrating...

It makes me gag every time I see it, hear it, or, worse, have a ND who says let's do it.

[Don Konkey]

"Two armed men robbed this store on...." A one armed guy would have a hell of a time trying to rob a store.

[Why-Dangle-Lens]

"For now we're live..."

Because soon you'll be dead?

[s'news]

A not-at-all daring daylight robbery has a ring to it.

Aw shoot. We fall into these often because we're writing on the fly and in a hurry. Yes, it's bad writing.

[Roy Hobbs]

"It could have been MUCH worse..."

[Michigan J. Frog]

Originally posted by Roy Hobbs:
"It could have been MUCH worse..."That's right--because it could have not happened at all.

[bride]

My pet peeves that I always post when these threads come around:

1. "Old man winter".
2. "Mother nature".

Your copy will sound so much better if you simply use "winter" and "nature".

Thank you. smile.gif

[Lazlo Toth]

Twas the month before Christmas and as I watched the news,
I found the word “literally” gave me the blues.

As I shaved and I showered and stood at the mirror,
What with my wondering ears did I hear?

This is when my calm ebbed and eroded,
When I heard that a car had literally exploded.

And then as if that weren’t enough,
There was to be more of this literally stuff.

In the next hour, what did another voice do?
It told me a car had literally split into two.

The reporter who to the scene he had traveled
Then told me the clues would be literally unraveled.

And so as I listened, I soon was to find
My jaw would get tight and my teeth they would grind.

For soon another fulfilling her role
Told me a car literally wrapped round a pole.

Enough! was the word I screamed to myself.
Let’s put this word literally high on the shelf.

Let’s get rid of this syntactic blight,
And when tempted to use it, instead bid it goodnight.

[Diplomat]

The one that drives me up the wall is the constant use of "your" as in:

"Here's YOUR weather forecast..."
"That's YOUR news..."

So it's not news to anyone else?

I understand we're trying to talk to people, but this often goes overboard and sounds too syrupy.

Another is "terrible tragedy."

Is there such a thing as a "wonderful tragedy?"

[ November 24, 2006, 09:31 AM: Message edited by: Diplomat ]

[AutoTranz]

Car vs. Truck(or vehicle vs. vehicle).

We're they playing chess? Arm wrestling? No they were not.

I HATE seeing that moronic crap.

[ November 24, 2006, 10:35 AM: Message edited by: Auto Tranz ]

[southwesternguy]

I hate when anchors (especially sports) use the phrase, "caught up with". As in Joe Blow caught up with the coach after the game. I guess we feel like it sounds active or something. It bugs me everytime I hear it.

[Poo(h)]

"Turned himself in to police."

I know. Technically, it is correct. But what .. said suspect magically became police?

I worked at one station where the two main anchors kept writing "law officials" rather than "law ENFORCEMENT officials." That made me cringe.

"Is speaking out tonight..." is another one that gets my goat. How about "is talking tonight about" (insert rest of sentence here).

And, any Faux newscast that doesn't use a verb. I worked at a Faux station where that happened. That, folks, is lazy writing.

[upandown]

GOOD EVENING, FERD BERFEL HAS THE NIGHT OFF.

IN OTHER NEWS, THREE PEOPLE DIED THIS AFTERNOON...

[Roy Hobbs]

Rats, 18 months on MediaLine and UpandDown goes and uses my real name.

Love and kisses,

Ferd B.

[Michigan J. Frog]

"Authorities said..."

This is a crutch that lets the write get away with running a story even though they don't know all the facts...like WHO said "it."

It also cheats the viewer out of knowing the source of the statement, and that's not good. For example, there are cases in which Police are much more likely to have correct info than a Fire department spokesperson.

"Some people say..."

Wikipedia calls these "weasel words" becuase they allow the writer to make a statement that's totally unsupported. You can't check out who said it.

The people referenced could be the writer and a friend who play golf together. Or they could be non-existent.

[Triscuit]

And how about a "daring robbery in broad daylight." Like it's any less daring at night? While it's easier to commit a robbery at night, (fewer witnesses and more-vulnerable businesses) I often wonder where this narrow daylight is you never hear about?

[bride]

Originally posted by Michigan J. Frog:
"Authorities said..."

This is a crutch that lets the write get away with running a story even though they don't know all the facts...like WHO said "it."

It also cheats the viewer out of knowing the source of the statement, and that's not good. For example, there are cases in which Police are much more likely to have correct info than a Fire department spokesperson.

"Some people say..."

Wikipedia calls these "weasel words" becuase they allow the writer to make a statement that's totally unsupported. You can't check out who said it.

The people referenced could be the writer and a friend who play golf together. Or they could be non-existent.I think we're all guilty of this.. although if I use it, at least one person DOES feel that way. Problem is, listeners don't know if it's one person, two people, or 100 people.

[Michigan J. Frog]

Originally posted by sleigh bride:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Michigan J. Frog:
"Authorities said..."

This is a crutch that lets the write get away with running a story even though they don't know all the facts...like WHO said "it."

It also cheats the viewer out of knowing the source of the statement, and that's not good. For example, there are cases in which Police are much more likely to have correct info than a Fire department spokesperson.

"Some people say..."

Wikipedia calls these "weasel words" becuase they allow the writer to make a statement that's totally unsupported. You can't check out who said it.

The people referenced could be the writer and a friend who play golf together. Or they could be non-existent.I think we're all guilty of this.. although if I use it, at least one person DOES feel that way. Problem is, listeners don't know if it's one person, two people, or 100 people.</font>[/QUOTE]But if one person does feel that way and 300,000,000 other Americans (or 1,500,000 in your DMA don't), aren't you giving unfair emphasis to that person's viewpoint?

[ November 25, 2006, 07:52 AM: Message edited by: Michigan J. Frog ]

[ISTHISTHINGON?]

Question....the phrase "went missing" has always sounded odd to me. I hear it all the time....but in casual converstation, I'd say "dissappeared"...are they interchangeable?

[Lazlo Toth]

When it comes to MY writing, they are not interchangeable. "Went missing" is a phrase that should disappear.

[s'news]

It won't let me just cut and paste, so here's a link to this ...

http://blogs.baltimoresun.com/about_language/2006/11/still_no_prison.html

[Randy Steinman]

Here's the article s'news is referring to:

Still no prisons? Still no workhouses?

(By John McIntyre, Baltimore Sun Assistant Managing Editor)

Halloween may be just past and Guy Fawkes day tomorrow, but already the holiday catalogs clutter the mailbox and Christmas merchandise creeps onto the shelves. So before the impulse to use prefabricated phrases can overpower the unsteady hand, here is a reminder from The Sun’s in-house policy on holiday cliches to eschew. This list, compiled by Sun copy editors and colleagues in the American Copy Editors Society, appeared as the third posting of this blog and was also published in an earlier form on the Poynter Institute’s Web site under the title "Avoid holiday cliches."

"’Tis the season": Not in copy, not in headlines, not at all. Never, never, never, never, never. You cannot make this fresh. Do not attempt it.

"’Twas the night before" anything: 'Twasing is no more defensible than ’tising. (And if you must refer to the Rev. Mr. Moore's poem, if indeed he wrote it, the proper title is "A Visit from St. Nicholas.")

"Jolly old elf": Please, no. And if you must use Kriss Kringle, remember the double s.

Any "Christmas came early" construction.

"Yes, Virginia" allusions: No.

"Grinch steals": When someone vandalizes holiday decorations, steals a child's toys from under the tree, or otherwise dampens holiday cheer, this construction may be almost irresistible. Resist it.

Give Dickens a rest. No ghosts of anything past, present or future. Delete bah and humbug from your working vocabulary. Treat Scrooge as you would the Grinch, i.e., by ignoring him.

"Turkey and all the trimmings": If you can't define trimmings without looking up the word, you shouldn't be using it.

"White stuff" for snow: We should have higher standards of usage than do television weather forecasters. Also avoid the tautologies favored by these types: winter season, weather conditions, winter weather conditions, snow event and snow precipitation. And the tautologies favored in advertising: free gift, extra bonus and extra added bonus.

Old Man Winter, Jack Frost and other moldy personifications can safely be omitted.

If the spirit of ecumenism and inclusion requires mention of Hanukkah in holiday articles, these points should be kept in mind. Hanukkah is a holiday more like Independence Day than Christmas, and it is only the coincidence of the calendar dates in a gentile culture that has caused the holiday to mimic Christian and secular elements. The holidays are coincidental; they are not twins.

Pray do not ring out or ring in an old year, a new year, or anything else.

Parodies of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" are, if possible, even more tedious than the original.

Some readers (and, sadly, some writers) lap up this swill. It is familiar, and the complete lack of originality is a comfort. It is for such people that television exists.

[s'news]

Thanks Randy.

Here, have a Negroni on me. It's a fancy drink that Mrs. s'news read about in the weekend Wall Street Journal. We had some earlier, but now I'm having a beer ...

http://www.campari.com/images/negroni.jpg

[ November 25, 2006, 09:53 PM: Message edited by: s'news ]

[Lazlo Toth]

Originally posted by Randy Steinman:
Here's the article s'news is referring to:

Still no prisons? Still no workhouses?

(By John McIntyre, Baltimore Sun Assistant Managing Editor)

Halloween may be just past and Guy Fawkes day tomorrow, but already the holiday catalogs clutter the mailbox and Christmas merchandise creeps onto the shelves. So before the impulse to use prefabricated phrases can overpower the unsteady hand, here is a reminder from The Sun’s in-house policy on holiday cliches to eschew. This list, compiled by Sun copy editors and colleagues in the American Copy Editors Society, appeared as the third posting of this blog and was also published in an earlier form on the Poynter Institute’s Web site under the title "Avoid holiday cliches."

"’Tis the season": Not in copy, not in headlines, not at all. Never, never, never, never, never. You cannot make this fresh. Do not attempt it.

"’Twas the night before" anything: 'Twasing is no more defensible than ’tising. (And if you must refer to the Rev. Mr. Moore's poem, if indeed he wrote it, the proper title is "A Visit from St. Nicholas.")

"Jolly old elf": Please, no. And if you must use Kriss Kringle, remember the double s.

Any "Christmas came early" construction.

"Yes, Virginia" allusions: No.

"Grinch steals": When someone vandalizes holiday decorations, steals a child's toys from under the tree, or otherwise dampens holiday cheer, this construction may be almost irresistible. Resist it.

Give Dickens a rest. No ghosts of anything past, present or future. Delete bah and humbug from your working vocabulary. Treat Scrooge as you would the Grinch, i.e., by ignoring him.

"Turkey and all the trimmings": If you can't define trimmings without looking up the word, you shouldn't be using it.

"White stuff" for snow: We should have higher standards of usage than do television weather forecasters. Also avoid the tautologies favored by these types: winter season, weather conditions, winter weather conditions, snow event and snow precipitation. And the tautologies favored in advertising: free gift, extra bonus and extra added bonus.

Old Man Winter, Jack Frost and other moldy personifications can safely be omitted.

If the spirit of ecumenism and inclusion requires mention of Hanukkah in holiday articles, these points should be kept in mind. Hanukkah is a holiday more like Independence Day than Christmas, and it is only the coincidence of the calendar dates in a gentile culture that has caused the holiday to mimic Christian and secular elements. The holidays are coincidental; they are not twins.

Pray do not ring out or ring in an old year, a new year, or anything else.

Parodies of "The Twelve Days of Christmas" are, if possible, even more tedious than the original.

Some readers (and, sadly, some writers) lap up this swill. It is familiar, and the complete lack of originality is a comfort. It is for such people that television exists.Yes Virginia, there is a Scrooge, and he works at the Baltimore Sun. smile.gif

[Michigan J. Frog]

Originally posted by Randy Steinman:
[QB]"White stuff" for snow: We should have higher standards of usage than do television weather forecasters. QB]Really, the forecasters themselves ought to have higher standards when it comes to this phrase.

[s'news]

Let me pour one for you, Lazlo.