All writers are warned to avoid the cliches. So why do we keep returning to them—and is there a larger picture we're sort of missing? Also, five questions with ESPN's T.J. Quinn.
Thanks for this. Made me smile and think of lots of journalism lessons at Delaware. Harris Ross and his list of cliches to never use in a thousand years and Dennis Jackson's rants on a "cliched vision" of writing, which is more along the lines of what Jon Wertheim was talking about. It really does amaze me sometimes how frequently the lesson of that UD journalism program come to me all these years later. I edit out so many basic cliches from copy I get – a frequent horse racing one is that Horse XYZ "ran his eyeballs out" (which makes a mess on the racetrack) or that a trainer or jockey is "white hot" if they've won a lot of races recently (how hot is white compared to red or, yikes, blue). Keep up the good work. Bought my nephew the Bo Jackson book for his birthday in December and need to buy myself a copy at some point.
Damn, Pearlman. The piece of cliches was very helpful.
Thanks for this. Made me smile and think of lots of journalism lessons at Delaware. Harris Ross and his list of cliches to never use in a thousand years and Dennis Jackson's rants on a "cliched vision" of writing, which is more along the lines of what Jon Wertheim was talking about. It really does amaze me sometimes how frequently the lesson of that UD journalism program come to me all these years later. I edit out so many basic cliches from copy I get – a frequent horse racing one is that Horse XYZ "ran his eyeballs out" (which makes a mess on the racetrack) or that a trainer or jockey is "white hot" if they've won a lot of races recently (how hot is white compared to red or, yikes, blue). Keep up the good work. Bought my nephew the Bo Jackson book for his birthday in December and need to buy myself a copy at some point.
Won't be paying for it, but I still believe in your substack, Mr. Pearlman. Thx for telling me about T.J. in particular