Chris Pash's Blog, page 10

Cliche of the Week 43 – Mystery Surrounds

Mysteries baffle, surround and sometimes shroud events and issues reported 30 times a week in the global mainstream media.

These stories have unknowns and secrets, but few offer real mystery. A body has been found, the cause of death is usually clear and what remains is to find those responsible.

This is similar to the phrase "police are baffled", something detectives rarely feel. They usually have a good idea what happened or have a couple of theories. It's just that they don't want to speak publicly about it.

"The April 26, 1986, incident is still shrouded in mystery, with some religious-minded people going as far as to claim that Chernobyl, which means wormwood in Ukrainian, is mentioned in the biblical Book of Revelation as a sign of the end of times." (The Moscow Times, April 26)

"Just days before the nuptials, both the dress and its designer remain shrouded in mystery." (The Wall Street Journal, April 26)

"Did a calico cat from New Jersey swim across New York Harbour? The mystery surrounds a white, orange and black feline that arrived last weekend on Governors Island." (The Kansas City Star, April 24)

"Mystery surrounds gun deaths of teenage couple on remote estate." (The Times, April 14)

Cliche of the Week appears Mondays in The Australian newspaper.

(Chris Pash's book, The Last Whale, a true story set in the 1970s, was published by Fremantle Press in 2008)

Cliche of the Week 42 – Hardcore

Writers on sports and reviewers of the arts dance the hardcore word slam in the mainstream media more than 1000 times a week.

Hardcore performs in stories about music, movies, theatre, politics, crime, the corporate world and even gardening can have a harsh rock heart.

"Byron Bay's . . . hardcore band, Parkway Drive, released their latest video, Karma, this month which went viral." (Byron Shire News, April 21)

"Occasionally an audience of well-adjusted civilians can be attracted to a marquee fantasy franchise, like Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings movies, but more often than not, they're too coarse or silly for all but the hardcore junkies." (The Guardian, April 16)

"An unfortunate clash with the FA Cup semi-final between two football clubs from the city next door meant that only the Salford hardcore turned up." (The Observer, April 17)

"Dylan asked Columbia to release it 'with no publicity and no hype', but critics and his hardcore fans alike were in raptures." (The Times, April 9)

"Most people can't wait for the winter to end, but I sure can. As soon as the winter ends at my house, the gardening begins. Hard-core gardening." (The Wall Street Journal, March 26)

Cliche of the Week appears in The Australian newspaper Mondays.

(Chris Pash's book, The Last Whale, a true story set in the 1970s, was published by Fremantle Press in 2008)

Cliche of the Week 41 – A Raft of Measures

Many changes are expected as a raft of measures is introduced to address the big problems of life.

 Governments and their instruments are fond of announcing or foreshadowing a raft of measures, a phrase floating through news reports up to 100 times a week.

"A raft of measures will be announced this morning, and is expected to include the public defence service taking control of a large number of criminal cases." (Radio New Zealand, April 13)

"The Coalition may have acted swiftly last year to announce a raft of measures to beat the deficit in its Emergency Budget, but it is only now that the measures are beginning to bite." (Britain's The Sunday Telegraph, April 10)

"The last thing the UK needs right now is a raft of measures that make it even harder for banks to support economic recovery and job creation." (The Times, April 8  )

"Dedicated busking zones and an etiquette guide for street performers are among a raft of measures being considered to tackle noise problems in the city centre." (Edinburgh Evening News, April 6)

"EU leaders announced a raft of measures last weekend, including increasing the effective size of the region's temporary bailout facility to E440 billion." (The Wall Street Journal, March 19)

Cliche of the Week appears in The Australian newspaper Mondays.

Cliche of the Week 40 – Hit the Ground Running

(With thanks to Mark Hollands  for submitting this week's journalistic cliche)

The ability to hit the ground running is prized above the measured lope of the distance jogger.

News reports sweat the phrase "hit the ground running" about 600 times a week to describe a burst of energy more associated with the dash of the sprinter.

"Newly-installed Central Coast Minister Chris Hartcher has hit the ground running with promises to get cracking . . ." (Central Coast Express, April 6)

"The hospital needs to move quickly to replace Young with an experienced leader who can hit the ground running." (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 4)

"Burton (minister for social protection) will have to hit the ground running." (The Sunday Times, March 27)

"Green groups have hit the ground running in their efforts to help Environment Minister Kate Jones win her battle against aspiring premier Campbell Newman." (The Courier-Mail, March 30)

Basketball: "Mark Bernsen is praying UL Eagles can hit the ground running tonight after a 13-day break when they host Neptune in the SuperLeague semi-finals." (The Sun, March 19)

Soccer: "Kris Commons last night declared Celtic would hit the ground running when the majority of their first team return to Glasgow after playing for their country." (The Daily Express, March 29)

Cliche of the Week appears in the Media section  of The Australian newspaper Mondays.

Cliche of the Week 39 – Landslide

Landslides rumble into reporting around 1000 times a week.

Sometimes the stories deal with soil slippage but more commonly landslide is associated with an election as in "landslide election victory".

In the week following the NSW election, "landslide" surfaced in the mainstream media 300 times, while "defeat" came up almost as many times and the word "dump" appeared more than 20.

"The bloodletting from rank-and-file Labor members and the MPs who lost their seats in the landslide election has begun, with many blaming 'a few bad eggs' in the party for the catastrophic loss." (Sydney Morning Herald, March 28)

"New deputy NSW premier-elect and re-elected member for Oxley, Andrew Stoner, says Saturday's election landslide was a vote for real change." (Manning River Times, March 29)

"Mr Orban, whose Fidesz party has concentrated enormous power in its hands since securing a landslide election victory last year, said Hungary would not bow to foreign pressure on any front." (The Irish Times, March 17).

"They believe their party has abandoned the cause of deep spending cuts that spurred the Republican landslide in the 2010 midterm election." (Wall Street Journal, March 29).

Cliche of the Week appears in The Australian newspaper Mondays.

See a Landslide of Cliches

Cliche of the Week 38 – Elephant in the Room

That scary elephant in the room no one wants to acknowledge tiptoes around but he appears to be spending more time in Japan recently.

An early journalistic use of "elephant in the room", according to the news database Factiva, was in The Wall Street Journal in 1985. Today, the news trumpet sounds this phrase up to 400 times a week.

"Let's shine a light on the elephant in the room before we continue" (Edmonton Journal, March 22)

"The elephant in the room, the question not asked — at least by the American press — that relates to America's ultimate responsibility is this: How does this unintended nuclear disaster at the Japanese nuclear power plants compare with the disaster caused by the two nuclear bombs intentionally dropped on Japan by the US in August of 1945?" (USA Today, March 22)

"The elephant in the room in (the) wake of explosions at Fukushima power plant was the energy plans of other nations" (Townsville Bulletin, March 16)

Soccer: "The impending need to replace Didier Drogba has been the elephant in the room for several years at Chelsea" (The Times, February 16)

Cliche of the Week appears in The Australian newspaper Mondays.

Cliche of the Week 37 – On the Table

Lunch on the table is a virtue but leaving money on the table, as in failing to extract the full value from a business deal, is a sin.

The expression "on the table" is used up to 1000 times a week in news reports to describe issues that are not addressed or those that are expected to be raised.

"Those tariffs and taxes will be on the table during President Obama's scheduled visit to Brazil." (Forbes, March 28)

"It will be considered by councillors at a council meeting today, after being left on the table following the February council meeting." (The Daily Advertiser, Wagga, March 15)

"Offers are back on the table again for documentary Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, which premiered at Sundance." (Daily Variety, March 14)

"Shares of Lawson Software rose 6 per cent on Monday as some investors expect a higher offer than what was put on the table last week." (Reuters News, March 15)

"If GMs and owners are tempted to dismiss the outrage over Chara's hit as just more noise from people who don't get hockey, perhaps they will listen to the people with cash on the table." (Toronto Star, March 14)

Cliche of the Week appears in the Australian newspaper Mondays.

Cliche of the Week 36 – Fast-paced

"Fast-paced" is a darling of those who review books, movies, music, theatre, television and sometimes art.

Sports writers, especially those who interpret basketball for the masses, also sprinkle "fast-paced" on heart-pumping match reports.

The phrase surfaces about 1000 times a week in the world's media.

"The extensive rhythmic jokes of the minuet came through without smirking, and the finale was done with panache," according to The San Francisco Chronicle music critic, March 10.

"An amalgam of mystery, horror and romantic fantasy, this mash-up of the familiar fable is and entertaining," said The Straits Times on March 9 in a review of the movie Red Riding Hood.

"The Tulip Virus is a , elegantly written novel." (The Parramatta Advertiser, March 9)

"From the United States to Holland to Dubai, no nation in this 'frictionless' age of and highly competitive trade can long survive without airport hub cities built to spec," wrote The New York Times, March 6, in a review of the book Aerotropolis.

"The Acton-Boxborough regional boys' team will be ready for a game tonight." (The Boston Globe, March 6.)

Cliche of the Week appears in newspaper Mondays.

Cliche of the Week 35 – Doing it Tough

Many are doing it tough and, going forward, we must dig deep to ensure working families are given safe haven.

 The rest of the world isn't 'doing it tough' or at least doesn't use the phrase as often as in Australia; at least 60 times a week, mainly in newspapers.

 Politicians radiate voter empathy by pointing to Aussie battlers 'doing it tough' but the phrase is also applied to other parts of society.

"Even more so when many Australians are doing it tough and can argue they are being priced out of AFL games." (The Advertiser, March 1)

 "Among the most unimpressed are the steel makers who are already doing it tough at the moment." (ABC, February 27)

 "Myer has struggled with credibility issues since it floated and shock downgrades do little to help the cause, particularly when it has been obvious for some time that retailers are doing it tough." (The Age, February 8 )

"Our dairy farmers are the best in world, but they are doing it tough." (The Courier-Mail, February 8 )

"The quarterly report on business outlook released this week said the state's (SA) much vaunted mining boom was yet to arrive and manufacturers were doing it tough." (The Australian, January 29)

Cliche of the Week 34 – Eye-popping

Eye-popping events occur so often that reporters record them at least 60 times a week in the mainstream media.

Sports writers use the adjective as a replacement for "amazing" or "striking" but it also appears in the business, arts, travel and culture sections.

"Trades handled by SecondMarket Inc, SharesPost Inc and other market makers specialising in privately held shares are conveying eye-popping valuations on some companies while disclosing little about their financial results." (The Wall Street Journal, February 24)

"For eight years, government officials turned to Dennis Montgomery, a California computer programmer, for eye-popping technology that he said could catch terrorists." (The New York Times, February 20)

"I've bungee-jumped four times on four continents and trust me, you never get used to that feeling of imminent death, rescued at the last moment by the eye-popping recoil." (The Globe and Mail, February 17)

"Surely no future Olympics can hope to match the scale of Beijing's staging in 2008, from the staggering mass choreography of the opening ceremony to the eye-popping Bird's Nest stadium." (The Guardian, February 15)

Cliche of the Week appears in The Australian newspaper Mondays.