Got would?

“Currently”

 

Woke Up With Would

 

Our old-fogey readership includes many people with lots of time on their hands who like to call or email whenever they spot an error or redundancy, and only then does management take such criticism seriously. I'm hoping someone calls us out on "different" and a few other pet peeves so I can say, "I told you so."

 

These are all great. I hate "would go on to" and "were able to" with a fucking passion.

My least favorite, though? "Ultimately." And I see it more and more in young journalists.

The word ultimately doesn't do shit for a sentence. See? Take it out of that one. Never need it. Never adds anything.

The Patriots ultimately won the game. NO. The Patriots won the game.

 

Ultimately, it seems, we would be talking about Pleonasm

Which is the use of more words or parts of words than are necessary or sufficient for clear expression. Pleonasm may also be used for emphasis or because a certain phrase has become established in a certain form (from the wiki).

In other words (many of them) . . .

"Ultimately, he would go on to hit a walk-off grand slam home run in the bottom of the inning to win the game"

 

"Losing effort" soured on me quickly. I've heard that on occasion from regional sports anchors, but it's mostly another SID phrase meant to put a positive spin on everything. From my experience, the people who use that term and/or teach their subordinates to are the same people who warn impartial credentialed reporters not to make their teams "look bad."

 

The other irritating part of hospital references is when there are many hospitals in the area yet the reporter says they taken to THE hospital.

 

Lots of folks need to read a copy of "The Elements of Style" and tighten copy.

 

Or LSU running back or star RB

 

Reminds me of an old writing teacher who said "that" can be eliminated from almost any sentence, usually by rewriting it with stronger adjectives.

 

"Fall" definitely falls into your category. Would not be surprised if "fall" originated with an SID.

 

Definitely. "Lose" and "loss" are four-letter words for some people, which is why they never fail to substitute "fall" for the former or turn the latter into an adjective while adding an extra word to remind everyone "the team tried their best, so they're basically still winners." Meanwhile, behind closed doors, there's a 50-50 chance the coach filled the locker room with actual four-letter words, and even hyperpartisan spectators probably would not fault him/her.