Wondrous Words Wednesday is a game I play whenever I’m reading. My eyes are always on the look-out for new-to-me words. If you don’t mind, I’m going to take a different approach this week. While reading online I stumbled upon a good discussion about banned words. It caused me to focus, not on new words, but on the words I use every day. Should my words be banned?
It all started when the CEO of the Tribune ordered a local radio station in Chicago to change some of the words they use. He gave them a list of 119 words and phrases they may no longer use on the air: famed, near miss, speaking out, aftermath, allegations, area residents, stay-tuned and we’ll be back.
The author of the article, Jan Freeman (in Boston.com), went on to talk about other lists of banned words. She pointed out that cutting down on cliched words has been a worthy practice of editors for years, but –
Writing and editing are hard, sweaty work; sweeping the “bad” words off the table may look like a bold stroke, but if the past is any guide, it’s not the way to get the job done.
Jennifer McDonald of the NY Times Book Review (Paper Cuts blog) took it a step further and raised the issue of cliches among book reviewers. She referred to an earlier blog post which listed the Seven Deadly Words of Book Reviewers (by Bob Harris). Are you ready, fellow book bloggers? Here they are: poignant, compelling, intriguing, eschew, craft (used as a verb), muse (used as a verb), and lyrical.
It’s possible to (mis)use all seven words in a one-sentence book report: “Mario Puzo’s intriguing novel eschews the lyrical as the author instead crafts a poignant tale of family life and muses on the compelling doings of the Mob.”
Although I am no where close to being a professional book reviewer, it still makes me conscious of the words I’m using to tell readers about books I’ve read. This seems to be a hot topic. Following the Seven Deadly Words post there were 276 comments from people who had their own suggestions of words to be banned. That article is here.
Now that my consciousness for cliched words has been raised, I’m aware of all the words within this post that should be changed. I wonder if, from now on, my eyes will start looking for cliches as well as new words. I think it’s now going to take me longer to read. What about you? Do you have some cliched words and phrases you’d like to see banned?
I hope you’ll join Kathy (Bermuda Onion), the undaunted sponsor of Wondrous Words Wednesday.
What a great post! If we find words to replace those cliches, we’ll just have new cliches, won’t we? I don’t use any of the seven words all the time, but I do use a few of them fairly often. This has given me something to think about.
I have one major pet peeve about TV reports. They say “troop” when they speak about one soldier. Maybe I live in the Dark Ages but to me a troop is a group of soldiers. There are others in TV and writing both, but that’s my current bugaboo.
Ugh – I hate hate hate reading lists of words that should be banned from book reviews because I use so many of them that by the time I’m done cringing from embarrassment and shame, I’m practically under my chair!
:–)
Great post! This is evidence of our mother/daughter/granddaughter mind-meld, because cliches have been a topic around our house this past week. Q and I have been talking about making our writing more interesting by avoiding cliches.
The words that I would be happy to see/hear less often (because banning something seems too unjust!) are words that surround the work place. Phrases that tend towards “jargon” and bad sports metaphors like “step up to the plate and…” YUCK! Also overused phrases that attempt to make something really terrible sound more palatable like “weapons of mass destruction”, or “rouge nations”.
Matt Groening (The Simpsons creator) compiles a annual list of Forbidden Words that makes me laugh out loud!
Thanks for posting this! So interesting and thought-provoking. I like to scan those banned word lists to see how many I use! ha. Usually they’re quite common. I’ll have to be more careful what I write now. Well, maybe.
I’m almost afraid to comment b/c I’ll probably use too many cliches. But that was a great post for any reader or blogger, not necessarily just for those of you who review books. I try not to be too cliched in my posts and my comments on the various photo and travel blogs I look at. But it is hard and takes some use of my little gray cells. (I’ve been reading Agatha C!). I am trying to banish “Lovely” at this point — I’m starting small.
BTW, yours is one of the few blogs I look at where I always read all comments because you get such thoughtful ones. Today, I loved that your daughter and g/d are thinking along the same lines you are.
I think about that every time I post a review!!! I think they should offer a free online class on how to avoid using them
Great post! I don’t use any of those regularly, but I’m sure there are words and phrases that I overuse. Will certainly make me think about it.
My words are here.
I always kept a thesaurus at my desk when I was growing up and learning to write so I could learn new words and rarely repeat them. It was a lot of fun. I’ve gotten lazy in my old Bumble years. Thanks for inspiring creative thinking – and description.
I guess it’s a saving grace that I mangle clichés so horribly that they’re unrecognizable anyway!