From Jeffrey Whitmore:<\/p>\n
Ban forever the wrap-up line so loved by TV news people:<\/p>\n
“. . . and that’s what it’s all about<\/strong>!” It’s typically
\nuttered (with a smarmy smile) after a heartwarming shot of an indigent
\nfamily eating day-old bread donated by the corporate sponsors of a
\ngolf tournament in Palm Springs,Pebble Beach, or on the north forty
\nof the Taj Mahal.<\/li>\nAnd do away with its sickening brethren:<\/p>\n
. . . “but the big [or real] winner in the event was charity<\/strong>.<\/li>\n On reflection, Jeffrey added the following:<\/p>\n
Soon after I sent the “charity” cliche I recalled another,
\npossibly more cloying one. It’s the spunky lede that begins with a
\ntruism. Next comes an invitation to the reader to agree. And then
\ncomes the zinger. For example:<\/li>\n“Real gourmets don’t drink red wine with fish, right?\n Wrong!”<\/li>\n
Another purgative worthy of banishment:<\/p>\n
Nothing could be further from the truth<\/strong>.\n I just ran an “exact phrase” Hotbot web search on the expression
\nand came up with 2,961 citations. For each of the many I checked out,
\nI could readily imagine fifty billion or so statements that were further
\nfrom the truth.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Jeffrey Whitmore: Ban forever the wrap-up line so loved by TV news people: “. . . and that’s what it’s all about!” It’s typically uttered (with a smarmy smile) after a heartwarming shot of an indigent family eating day-old … Continue reading