Friday, 24 October 2008

I'm a lazy journalist

Some current clichés and out-and-out mistakes I'm annoyed by, especially when perpetrated by people who are paid to write well:

  • chads (in situations in which the plural is still chad);
  • statistics (when just referring to numerical information);
  • zero-sum game (when meaning an either or choice);
  • in the DNA of... (when talking about an essential part of something);
  • toxic debts (when referring to ill-advised financial transactions.

Today I've got two new ones:

  • immoral (when meaning amoral);
  • but I've forgotten the second one.

Of course, there always exists the possibility that none of this is a problem and that I am just turning into Ed Reardon. (Radio 4 comedy, listen online)

1 comments:

Sharon J said...

We all have our niggles :)