[PW] Two-part query: Journalistic cliches and real estate argot

[Linda Corets]

Here's Slate's discussion of the phenomenon of bus plunge stories -
particularly in the NY Times - and the need for tiny stories to fill space
in the typesetting era:
http://www.slate.com/id/2152895/ 

"As recently as 1980, the New York Times reserved an honored—if small—place
in its pages for "bus plunge" news. Whenever buses nose-dived down
mountainsides; off bridges and cliffs; over embankments, escarpments, and
precipices; through abutments and guardrails; or into ravines, gorges,
valleys, culverts, chasms, canyons, canals, lakes, and oceans, the news
wires moved accounts of the deadly tragedies, and the Times would reliably
edit them down to one paragraph and publish..."

Linda

-----Original Message-----
From: project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org
[mailto:project-wombat-bounces at lists.project-wombat.org] On Behalf Of
jschmitz at qis.net
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 7:22 PM
To: list at project-wombat.org
Subject: Re: [PW] Two-part query: Journalistic cliches and real estate argot

Quoting Don <dan8bks at yahoo.com>:

> 1) Are there books or lists describing the history and origin of how, why,
> and when various journalistic clichés and hackneyed phrases enter and stay
in
> popular currency? Typical examples gleaned from the print media recently
(and
> which often appear, ad nauseum) are given below:
>    
>               “closed-door” meetings 

>               storms “dumped” X feet of snow

>               prices “skyrocketed” 

>               “at the end of the day” 

>               “sends a clear message” 


"At the end of the day" tends to be more of a business cliche than a
journalistic one.  

You forgot bus plunges, and people valiantly battling or fighting cancer.

You may enjoy these:

http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/2007/11/red_alert.html
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/2007/03/grumpy_old_guy.ht
ml
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/2007/07/weve_heard_that_b
efore.html
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/mcintyre/blog/2006/09/gnats_swarms_of_g
nats.html

-JoAnne
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