How Cliche-Ridden Newspeak
Gave One Writer a Headache
'When I finally slept, I dreamed in headlines and bad newspeak: Predawn fires … shark-infested waters … steamy tropical jungles … the solid South … mean streets and densely wooded areas populated by ever-present lone gunmen, fiery Cuban, deranged Vietnam veteran, Panamanian strongman, fugitive financier, bearded dictator, slain civil rights leader, grieving widow, struggling quarterback, cocaine kingpin, drug lord, troubled youth, embattled mayor, totally destroyed by, Miami-based, bullet-riddled, high-speed chases, uncertain futures, deepening political crises sparked by massive blasts, brutal murders -- badly decomposed -- benign neglect and blunt trauma. I woke up, nursing a dull headache …'
-- Edna Buchanan, legendary police reporter for the Miami Herald, from her mystery novel Miami, It's Murder
5 Comments:
On a related point see
http://heterodoxeconomist.typepad.com/heterodox_economist/2007/07/building-bulwar.html
In Cleveland it would be blizzard, record snow fall, heat wave, drought, severe thunderstorm warnings, Doppler radar, triple Doppler radar, oh and Paris Hilton. I love local news!
Well said, Lou. Their ridiculous overhyping of the weather is beyond tiresome. And by the way, have you had trouble keeping up with your fan mail since being quoted in USA Today?
People Magazine has voted me, "Most Incoherent Quote Machine of 2007"
Don't be so hard on yourself, Lou.
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