By Paula LaRocque, KERA Commentator
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-748077.mp3
Dallas, TX –
Journalese is hackneyed media expression that depends upon journalistic cliche. Journalese gives us high-speed chases and bullet-riddled bodies. It gives us surprise moves and bizarre twists. Drug lords and lone gunmen and grieving widows and bearded dictators and fugitive financiers.
In journalese, a storm "dumped more than five inches of rain and spawned hurricane-force winds and golfball-sized hail."
Or, someone found the "body of a dead man" - as opposed to the body of a live man - in a "densely wooded area."
Or a "highly placed official is under fire for allegations of wrongdoing."
Or something is fueling or spurring or sparking or targeting or skyrocketing or spiraling or escalating.
What's interesting about journalese is that journalists themselves don't speak it. If they did - well! Imagine two reporters meeting on the street...
Joe: Hi, Paula.
Paula: Hello, Joe Kozera.
Joe: What's taking place at your journalistic facility?
Paula: Amid a burgeoning crisis spawned yesterday when the editor disliked a story I wrote, he hurled a litany, even a laundry list, of verbal insults at me and launched an unprovoked attack on my copy editor, 45. That triggered a firestorm of criticism from staff members, who weighed in on the issue and unleashed a new round of difficulty.
Joe: Such a heated exchange can quickly escalate into a defining moment, or even a critical mass.
Paula: You bet. In the wake of the controversy, the boss suggested I could level the playing field by an immediate withdrawal - by resigning!
Joe: Whoa, worst-case scenario!
Paula: I hotly contested the suggestion and mounted a staunch defense. But the idea was hailed by high-ranking sources who said it might send a very clear signal to the rest of the staff.
Joe: Send a clear signal, eh? More like a chilling effect. But, at the end of the day, this must be a daunting challenge. Paula: We're in the midst of negotiations, and I hope to hammer out an agreement on a key provision. And their hard-line stance does seem to be softening. So the bottom line may be that there's a thin line between a soft and a hard line.
Joe: Huh! Things may yet turn in your favor - if not in a sea change, maybe in a ground swell. Instead of a staggering defeat, it could be a stunning victory! Paula: I thought I might get shipped off to the oil-rich Middle East. Or to delegate-rich New York.
Joe: Does this storm of controversy decimate your hopes for a promotion? Paula: That hope may have suffered a sudden downturn. Or a steep decline. Or a sharp decrease. Maybe even a free fall. Let's just say I'm hopefully optimistic.
Joe: So the outcome is unclear. Or it remains to be seen.
Paula: Yeah...Something like that.
So! That's how it might sound if journalists spoke as they wrote. Makes you wonder, though - wouldn't it be better if they just dropped journalese altogether and wrote as they spoke?
Paula LaRocque is the author of On Words: Insights into How Our Words Work - And Don't.
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