Banned for Life

Tom Mangan's collection of reviled news media cliches

Main menu

Skip to primary content
Skip to secondary content
  • About
  • Abuse of Language
    • New banishments
    • Redundancies
    • Unnecessary words
  • Abuse of News
    • News
    • Features
    • Television
    • Sports
    • Places

Monthly Archives: June 2008

Can the happy clan

Posted on June 20, 2008 by tom

Rebecca Kell reviles:

Family Friendly

It’s used very narrowly most times. “One man, One woman and their young child(ren)”   Miriam Webster lists that definition as 5a.

It is now being used by Babeland, a sex toy shop.   The two ideas are not meant to co-exist.

Posted in New banishments

Hatin’ on the hackneyed

Banned for Life is devoted to those expressions so gratingly overused that they should be forever banned from the nation's news reports.

George Orwell put it best:

"Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print."

# # #

These are my most-loathed expressions:
  • " 'Tis the Season" at Christmas.
  • Campaign "war chests."
  • Downpours that "couldn't dampen the spirits" of all those upon whom the rain fell.
  • "Play in Peoria" in any story or headline relating to the central Illinois town of my birth.
  • "The good news is .... the bad news is...."

This site is about what not to write if you write news for a living. It's not about annoying expressions that crop up in everyday conversations.

If Katie Couric's saying it, please tell me about it. If it's your annoying brother-in-law, grit your teeth and be thankful half of all marriages end in divorce.

Don’t miss an update

Banned for Life is totally reader-driven -- which means new stuff arrives either when somebody a) e-mails me with a nomination for banishment, or b) comments on an existing post. Subscribing to my RSS feeds is the best way to catch up with the latest postings.

| Subscribe to my RSS comments feed here (most new content appears in the comments).

| Subscribe to my RSS post feed here.

Also at tommangan.net

| Here's my home page.

| Two-Heel Drive is my hiking blog.

Cliche links

  • 100 worst groaners
  • Banished Words List
  • Cliche Finder
  • Cliche Origins
  • Cliche Story Leads
  • ClicheSite.com
  • Gardening cliches
  • Jargon Buster
  • More cliches than you can shake a stick at
  • Movie cliches
  • Political cliches
  • Sports cliches
  • The Book of Cliches
  • The Plain English Campaign

Archives

  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • December 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • June 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • September 2004
  • July 2004
  • June 2004
  • May 2004
  • April 2004
  • March 2004
  • February 2004

Categories

  • Business
  • Features
  • New banishments
  • News
  • People
  • Places
  • Redundancies
  • Sports
  • Technology
  • Television
  • Uncategorized
  • Unnecessary words
  • Wrongful usage

Recent Comments

  • Nancy Painter on Wretched turn of phrase
  • Nancy Painter on Back story on Banned for Life
  • Davidka on Post your ‘Banned’ nominations here
  • Val on Post your ‘Banned’ nominations here
  • Sandra on Post your ‘Banned’ nominations here

Recent Posts

  • Can the happy clan
  • Free the geeks
  • Stop the pain
  • Nip the tuck
  • Post your ‘Banned’ nominations here
Proudly powered by WordPress