Speaking broadly

Larry Davis says:

One phrase needs to go: “Broad daylight”. If mayhem occurs between 9 am and 5 pm (especially in the summer), it always happens in ‘broad daylight’. Unless the weather played a part in the robbery, I would image most daylight would be broad, and there’s usually daylight during the day.

You know that if there were a robbery during a solar eclipse, somebody would write, “The stabbing took place in broad daylight”.

6 thoughts on “Speaking broadly

  1. Your problem seems to be that the reporter using broad daylight is using an uneccesary adjective (broad) to describe the daylight in which the crime took place. What you fail to attend to is the fact that the meaning of this phrase is generally understood and agreed upon. How else should the reporter convey the boldness, and also the time of the crime in one phrase.

  2. When you hear, “A gunman held up the bank in broad daylight this afternoon” couldn’t you replace it with, “A gunman held up the bank at 2 pm”. You’ve now told me the time it happened, without using a cliche. There’s usually daylight at 2pm , regardless if it’s broad or not.

  3. Unless you’re in northern Alaska during the dead of winter. What would they say then? “In broad moonlight” (if the moon happens to be shining)?