View unanswered posts | View active topics

Page 1 of 1

[ 7 posts ]

Previous topic | Next topic

Author	Message
Phillip Blanchard	Post subject: Milestone Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2002 8:30 am
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 8342 Location: Bethesda, Md.	President Bush's legal and political advisers are split over whether to take a stand on the racially charged subject of affirmative action as the Supreme Court prepares to take up a landmark case on racial preferences. (Washington Post)<p>***No case is a landmark before it is decided. After a decision is made, it takes quite some time to tell whether the decision is a "landmark" or not. The point here is that "landmark" is not a useful term.***
Top

Guest	Post subject: Re: Milestone Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2002 2:59 pm
	I would submit that the same rule should apply for "sweeping," "historic" or "watershed" ....
Top

Guest	Post subject: Re: Milestone Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:34 pm
	Also "storied" ... today's sports pages are full of the news that Washington State University football coach Mike Price is heading to the University of Alabama to "take the reins" (another cliche) of the "storied program." What, exactly, is an "unstoried" program???
Top

ADKbrown	Post subject: Re: Milestone Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2002 8:26 pm
Joined: Tue Apr 09, 2002 12:01 am Posts: 1286 Location: Saranac Lake, N.Y.	<blockquote><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica ,sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Jim Thomsen: What, exactly, is an "unstoried" program???<hr></blockquote><p>I understand your objection to the cliche, but the point you make in your rhetorical question is weak. Just because we don't use the word "unstoried" does not render "storied" meaningless. You could just as easily object to "black" because "unblack" isn't a word.
Top

Bakelite	Post subject: Re: Milestone Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2002 10:22 pm
Joined: Mon Apr 08, 2002 12:01 am Posts: 231 Location: Bellevue, WA	<blockquote><font size="1" face="Arial, Helvetica ,sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by ADKbrown: <p>Just because we don't use the word "unstoried" does not render "storied" meaningless. You could just as easily object to "black" because "unblack" isn't a word.<hr></blockquote><p>By the same measure, how often are we couth, plussed, gruntled or consolate? That doesn't stop us from using these words in the negative.
Top

Phillip Blanchard	Post subject: Re: Milestone Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2002 11:52 pm
Joined: Sun Apr 07, 2002 1:01 am Posts: 8342 Location: Bethesda, Md.	Anyhow, I was talking about "landmark" and its use with reference to court cases.
Top

pzicari	Post subject: Re: Milestone Posted: Sat Dec 21, 2002 12:33 am
Joined: Thu Jun 20, 2002 12:01 am Posts: 131 Location: Cleveland, OH	I think what applies here is Mark Twain's advice: "When you catch an adjective, kill it."
Top

Display posts from previous: All posts1 day7 days2 weeks1 month3 months6 months1 year Sort by AuthorPost timeSubject AscendingDescending  Previous topic | Next topic

Page 1 of 1

[ 7 posts ]

What They're Saying

"This is like group therapy with prisoners in the Poynter Institute's dungeon." ... "You take a vocation that the simple-minded consider to be mere drudgery, and you exploit every bit of fascinating and humorous nuance imaginable." ... "Delicious" ... "Ask your professors? The only professors whose opinions matter are named Walsh, Blanchard and McIntyre." ... "What I come here for, I can find ONLY here. Phillip, you've built a great place." ... "Nothing gets us hotter than reading bitchy discussion threads from over-exhausted copy editors endlessly debating the merits of "theater" versus "theatre." ... "I love this site. It's better than the Kool-Aid acid tests." ..."I'm awed at the efficiency with which matters of opinion get hashed out in this forum." ... "Phil is the bomb!" ... "I'd wager that it's exactly your sort of hidebound thinking that contributes to the problems newspapers are having attracting readers." ... "I'm totally obsessed with this site. It's like porn--if you get off on Scrabble." ... "It reveals the backstage carping and vindictive emotions that roil the souls of those trapped at the copy desks." "When they say "testy," they certainly mean it. Whether it's reporters, editors, or the general public, no one is above their savage snark." ... "An apparent crack in the thin grey line." ..."Testy Copy Editors is a bitchboard for journalism's underclass." ... "My desire to read 'Testy Copy Editors' is only rivalled by my desire to pop "Constipated Call Girls" in the DVD player." ... "Phillip Blanchard is not just a testy copy editor, but a prophet scorned in his own time, and those of us who defend wordplay will be punished for it come the Judgment Day." ... "Phil Blanchard is as dashing in person as he is at the TCE board." ... "As far as writing and editing go: Read this board, read Bill Walsh, memorize the style book, read William Zinsser, and read the New York Times. That's a good start." ... "You should let go of your bitterness. You were not the oppressed talent you thought yourself to be. You were a miserable, brooding, silent, joyless grind, lucky to have a job at the Sun-Times, and we're lucky now that you've moved on to afflict others."

Useful Links

Our 2003 ACES Handout
Our 2004 ACES Handout
Our 2005 ACES Handout
Our 2006 ACES Handout
Our 2009 ACES Handout
The Slot (Bill Walsh)
HeadsUp: The Blog
John McIntyre
Regret the Error
Banned for Life

TCE RSS Feed