Mahesh Vijaurkar sent me this one: (Do not forget to go through the long list of comments)
Identifying
journalistic clichés has become a favorite Washington parlor game. But might it
not also open a rare window onto the struggles of writers and editors trying to
think outside the box?
Over the past
few years, some colleagues at The Washington Post and I have played our own
parlor game, assembling a list of verbal crutches, stock phrases, filler words,
cliches and perpetually misused expressions that we should avoid in The Post’s
Sunday Outlook section — or at least think hard about before using. The list
received some attention last year on the media blog Romenesko, triggering many more nominations and
additions.
Below is the
latest, expanded version, with twice as many entries. Feel free to suggest new
entries (or arguments for why something should be taken off the list) in the
comments section, or tweet at us: @CarlosLozadaWP or @PostOutlook.
Believe me —
this is not your father’s list of journalism cliches.
The Outlook List of Things We Do Not Say
At first glance
(or worse, “at first blush”)
As a nation (or
worse, “as a society”)
Upon deeper
reflection (why not reflect deeply from the start?)
Observers
(unless referring to people actually sitting around watching something)
[Person] is not
alone (from anecdote to generalization, we get it)
Pundits say (or
“critics say”)
The American
people (unless in a quote)
The narrative
(unless referring to a style of writing)
Probe (an
uncomfortable substitute for “investigation”)
Opens/offers a
rare window (unless it is a real window that is in fact unusual)
Begs the
question (unless used properly – and so rarely used properly that it’s not
worth the trouble)
Be that as it
may
If you will
(actually, I won’t)
Needless to say
(then don’t say it)
Suffice it to
say (if it suffices, then just say it)
This is not your
father’s [anything]
[Anything] 2.0
(or 3.0, or 4.0…)
At a crossroads
(unless referring to an actual intersection)
The powers that
be
Outside the box
(describes creative thinking — with a cliche)
A favorite
Washington parlor game
Yes, Virginia,
there is a [something]
Chock full
(“full” is just fine by itself)
Last-ditch
effort (unless ditch-digging is involved)
Midwife (as a
verb, unless involving childbirth)
Cue the
[something]
Call it
[something]
Pity the poor
[something]
It’s the
[something], stupid
Imagine (as the first
word in your lede)
Time will tell
Palpable sense
of relief (unless you can truly touch it)
Rorschach test
(unless it is a real one)
Turned a blind
eye
Underscores
Cycle of
violence (unless referring to a particularly vicious Schwinn)
Famously (if readers
know it, you don’t need to tell them it is famous; if they don’t know it, you
just made them feel stupid)
The Other (or
“otherize,” “otherization” and other variations)
Effort (as a
verb)
Table (as a
verb, as in “table the talks”)
Shutter (as a
verb, as in “they shuttered the factory”)
Gestalt/Zeitgeist
Orwellian
(unless discussing George Orwell)
Machiavellian
(unless discussing Niccolo Machiavelli)
Gladwellian
(never)
What happens in
[somewhere] stays in [somewhere]
Oft-cited
Little-noticed
Closely watched
Hastily convened
Much ballyhooed
Shrouded in
secrecy
Tipping point
Inflection point
Point of no
return
The [anything]
community
Ignominious end
Tightly knit
(unless referring to actual knitting)
In the final
analysis (especially as beginning of a final sentence/paragraph)
Ultimately (same
as above)
At the end of
the day (same as above)
Who lost [insert
country here]?
Punditocracy
Twitterati
Commentariat
Chattering
classes
White-shoe law
firm
Well-heeled
lobbyists
Byzantine rules
(unless referring to the empire in the Middle Ages)
Rise of the
24-hour news cycle (it’s been a while)
Not so fast
Remains to be
seen
Tenuous at best
Or so it seems
Burst onto the
national political scene
For now
(especially at the end of a sentence set off by a dash; all it does is negate
everything that came before)
Tectonic shifts
(unless real ones)
Feeding
frenzy/feeding the frenzy
Double down
Game-changer
[Anything]-gate
(especially if you’re writing in The Washington Post)
Dons the mantle
of
A portrait
emerges
In a nutshell
The social
fabric (or “the very fabric of our democracy/nation/society”)
Hot-button issue
Face-saving
compromise
The argument
goes
The thinking
goes
Contrary to
popular belief
Demurred
Intoned
The new normal
The talk of the
town (unless referring to the New Yorker section)
It couple (or
“power couple”)
Paradigm shift
(in journalism, all paradigms are shifting)
Unlikely
revolutionary (in journalism, all revolutionaries are unlikely)
Unlikely
reformer (in journalism, all reformers are unlikely, too)
Grizzled veteran
(in journalism, all veterans are either grizzled or “seasoned”)
Manicured lawns
(in journalism, all lawns are manicured)
Wide-ranging
interview (in journalism, all interviews range widely, even if they don’t)
Rose from
obscurity (in journalism, all rises are from obscurity)
Dizzying array
(in journalism, all arrays make one dizzy)
Withering
criticism (in journalism, all criticism is withering)
Predawn raid (in
journalism, all raids take place in the predawn hours)
Unsung hero (in
journalism, all heroes lack music)
Sparked debate
Raised questions
Ironic
Capitalization Implying the Unimportance of Things Others Consider Important
But
reality/truth is more complicated (in journalism, we oversimplify, then
criticize the oversimplification)
Scarred by war
(unless referring to real scars)
War-torn
Trading barbs
Shines a
spotlight on [something] (unless there is a real spotlight that is shining)
[Something] is
no silver bullet
Political
football
Political
theater
More than you
think (how do you know what I think?)
Less than you
think (how do you know what I think?)
Not as much as
you think (how do you know what I think?)
Shifting
dynamics (code for “don’t hold me to this”)
The situation is
fluid (code for “I have no idea what is going on”)
Partisans on
both sides
Charm offensive
Fallen on hard
times
On thin ice
Poster child
Going forward
Creature of
Washington
Official
Washington
A modest
proposal (this was written once, very well, and has been written terribly ever
since)
Stinging rebuke
Mr. [Anyone]
goes to Washington (unless a reference to the actual movie)
The proverbial [something]
(Tacking this in front of a cliche doesn’t excuse it, just admits you used it
knowingly)
Fevered
speculation
Iconic
How did we get
here? (code for “here comes the b-matter”)
But first, some
background (code for “I know more than you do”)
Growing body of
evidence
Resists easy
classification/categorization
Increasingly
(unless story proves something is in fact increasing)
Tapped (as
substitute for “selected” or “appointed)
Any “not-un”
formulation (as in “not unsurprising that you’d use that cliche”)
Wait for it
There, I said it
And here’s the
kicker
See what I did
there?
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