Writing in Circles: Journalese

We are being bombarded with journalese constantly, everyday. It mars the pages of our newspapers and magazines, infiltrates our television evening news, and inundates our weather reports.

What is journalese?

Journalese is a hodgepodge of instant words appropriated from other parts of speech. Adjectives are used as nouns - (greats, notables). Nouns are used as verbs - (to host), chopped to form verbs - (enthuse, emote), and padded to form verbs - (beef up).

In journalese famous people are "famed" and their associates are "staffers." The future is always "upcoming" and someone somewhere is always "firing off" a note.

A fine example of journalese in weather from Freep Academy is:

"People hunker down, especially if they're in the storm's path, for fear of being in destruction's wake when hurricanes batter or punish coastal areas. Tornadoes invade the heartland, while thunderstorms merely blitz the suburbs, pelting them with golfball-sized hail."

It would be refreshing to hear a weatherperson just come out and say, "It is going to rain."

Another fine example of journalese from The Oregonian is: "In arguing for passage supporters of the resolution said the availability of health care, including rights to abortion and family-planning services, has a serious impact on the family and work lives of union members."

Here are several more examples drawn from The Oregonian:

A team of naval investigators arrived . . . and confirmed that the man was the one being sought.

. . . a move sought by Gov. Neil Goldschmidt to ease the "crisislike atmosphere" surrounding the issue.

Bailey believes that white people tend to see every black youth as a gang associate.

. . . at Hillcrest (the equivalent school for girls in trouble with the law, although boys are lodged there now) . . .

. . . and more dramatic results may be garnered from giving DHEA to obese individuals, he said.

Thousands more could gain entry.

At first they may not sound so unusual because we are so used to be bombarded with this nonsense. However, was the man the one being sought or the one they were looking for? What is a crisislike atmosphere? Isn't a gang associate a gang member? Boys are lodged there? Results may be garnered? Could thousands more gain entry or could they just get in?

In his book, On Writing Well, William Zinsser defines journalese as "a mixture of cheap words, made-up words and clichés." He adds journalese consists of word forms "that have become so pervasive that a writer can hardly help using them automatically."

I fear this is true. It seems television news reporters on channels like FOX can hardly help using them also. They latch on to a word or phrase such as "weapons of mass destruction" and repeat it like parrots squawking for a Ritz cracker.

Journalese is a cheap slaughter of the English language. It is stale and redundant. It is driving readers away from newspapers and magazines and it is turning television news viewers off who will soon be turning off their televisions.

When people talk in circles we do not believe a word they say. Journalese is nothing more than writing in circles, so how can we believe what we read? Enough of this nonsense, let's have some well-written, straightforward journalism.

I no longer want to hear that there is a fairly strong probability of potentially impending precipitation expected following the commencing sunrise. Some weatherperson somewhere please just say, "It's going to rain tomorrow."