Wednesday, 22 December 2010

What's not to like about this list of phrases?

Journalisted, with thanks to John Rentoul, has run a list of the most over-used phrases by journalists in 2010. They are:
  • Learning curve: 771 articles
  • Way beyond: 746 articles
  • A no-brainer: 651 articles
  • Game changer: 524 articles
  • Perfect storm: 520 articles
  • Raising awareness: 405 articles
  • Elephant in the room: 353 articles
  • Not fit for purpose: 327 articles
  • Out of the box: 229 articles
  • What's not to like?: 206 article
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5 comments:

  1. Lobbywatcher22 December 2010 at 11:01

    No doubt Mr Rentoul, who gets paid a six-figure sum for writing a couple of columns and a few leaders each week, can afford to take his time searching for freshly-minted phrases for his opinion pieces. Those of us who have to rattle off 1,000 words by next deadline on Vince Cable's future prospects as well as covering the news story in print and online can surely be forgiven for resorting to the odd hackneyed cliche now and again.

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  2. Graeme Lamb22 December 2010 at 11:12

    Excellent response by lobbywatcher there. No more needs to be said!

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  3. markwoodward22 December 2010 at 12:26

    Were these phrases by the writers or the people they were quoting in the copy? Two very different things.

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  4. Anonymous27 December 2010 at 10:41

    Hi Jon. Thought you might like to take a look at this historically!? Here are the top 5 phrases used in books since 1840 - http://bit.ly/ibaIb4. Really fun tool that Google have just put out. Try some other words on it. Like Geeks overtaking Nerds - http://bit.ly/fdMPE1. Regards of the season. P

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  5. Jon Slattery27 December 2010 at 16:36

    Thanks Phil.

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