Yawn

I haven't been sleeping well lately. Actually, it's not that -- I haven't been waking up well lately. My body would really like to be getting up at 9, 10, 10:30, rather than the much earlier hour it's being forced to rise. And of course I've been finding it difficult to fall asleep before 1am lately, even though I'm sleepy by 11:30.

It's messing with my moods. I've been ranging from flatly serious to quiet and zoney to testy, which I was this morning for no good reason. I almost wish I could go back to caffeine, but I don't want to become reliant on it again.

All I want to do at the moment is take a nap.

. . .

I'm picking up way late (in the blogosphere, anyway) on the 100 worst journalism "groaners." The list is basically a somewhat inflammatory way of saying "steer clear of cliches and jargon," but it has some merit. Unfortunately, if journalists were to avoid absolutely everything on the list, the news would be far more dry and literarily boring. Some of the entries -- "white stuff" for instance -- are used so as to not have to repeat the same word or phrase ("snow" in my example, or cocaine) over and over again. That's not to say the list isn't valid -- it would be a much more pleasant world if cliches and hyperbole were vanquished from the news. (It should be noted that the list is more aimed at broadcast reporting than print, although there are some examples of "reporter's shorthand" phrases in there.)

One thing I was surprised not to see on the list: "...sounded a ________ note." Usually the blank is filled with "more positive" or something similar. What, are they playing trumpet? It's much easier and no less interesting to say "...sounded more positive," or even "... was more optimistic." Simple and easy, everyone knows what you're talking about without the unnecessary metaphor.

Posted by Andrew Huff at August 21, 2003 02:39 PM