Journalese interpreted

By Mike Lange
Staff Writer

    During my morning routine of sipping coffee and scrolling through news websites a few days ago, I came across a headline that jumped right out at me.
“LePage backs bill to thwart minimum wage proposals in Portland, Bangor”
    The governor’s actions really didn’t surprise me. The word “thwart” did.

    One of my favorite columnists, Phil Corbett in the New York Times, describes words like “thwart” as journalese: “a strained and artificial voice more common to news reports than to natural conversation.”
    In other words, we often use words in print that we’d never use in everyday language. And we shouldn’t.
    It’s a habit that’s hard to break because we often stretch our efforts not to repeat words in the same sentence. That’s why we wind up with clumsy phrases like “elongated yellow fruit” when we really mean “bananas” and “white stuff’ when we mean snow.
    Coming from the old school of self-taught reporting, I was guided by editors who advised me to always write in a conversational tone. “Don’t preach to your readers – talk to them,” I was told. “And above all, don’t write over their heads.”
    I was teaching a rifle marksmanship class at Fort Campbell, Ky. several years ago when some evaluators paid me a visit. They sat in the back of the classroom for about 20 minutes and filed their report which included this phrase: “The quality of the instruction was unsurpassed and we hope it’s a harbinger of things to come.”
    “Unsurpassed” was quite a compliment. It was also quite wrong. It means that nothing has ever been done to equal the feat. I seriously doubt that I was that talented.
    I had to explain to some of my coworkers what a “harbinger” was. Dictionary.com described it as “a person who goes ahead and makes known the approach of another.”
    In my previous life as an editor, I was best known for trimming 25 percent of a story and still leaving it readable. I would also translate journalese into plain English.
    Some errors are so commonplace that we don’t even notice them. “The choir performed before a live audience at the Augusta Civic Center.” I hope the audience was live. I’d hate to see people waste their time singing to deceased patrons.
    Then there’s “share some things in common.” “In common” is unnecessary. If you share, naturally you have something in common with somebody.
    I see “unanswered questions” once in a while. Once a question is answered, it’s no longer a question.
    I have probably written “completely destroyed” a few times. Destroyed is sufficient.
    There isn’t a “first annual” anything. If it’s taking place the first time this year, then you can call it “annual” if it happens again.
    Press releases are often fun to read. Some start with “We’re proud to announce.” Of course you are. That’s why you sent us the message.
    So there you have it: Journalese 101.
    My editor lets me know when it creeps into my work.
    My wife will tell me if it slips into my conversation. Then she’ll completely ignore me.
Mike Lange is a staff writer with the Piscataquis Observer. His opinions are his own and don’t necessarily reflect those of this newspaper.