An extension of the Common Sense Journalism monthly column by Doug Fisher, former broadcaster, newspaper reporter and wire service editor. From new media to old, much of journalism is just plain common sense.
"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Unknown (often improperly attributed to Thomas Jefferson)
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
"Common sense is not so common" - Voltaire
"Common sense is instinct; enough of it is genius" - George Bernard Shaw
From the files, found this hed on a "Hints from Heloise" column:
posted by Doug @ 5:25 PM
2 comments|
Right click on the chicklet and copy the address to your newsreader. (Or click directly on the chicklet for some quick links to some of the most common newsreaders.)
Some other fun sites:
2 Comments:
This can be filed under the 'absolute words' debate. The writer and semantics enthusiast James J. Kilpatrick wrote in his book The Writer's Art that he has a list of words that cannot be qualified by 'very,' 'rather,' or 'a little bit.' These words include unique, imperative, universal, final, fatal, complete, virgin, dead, equal, eternal, total, unanimous, essential and indispensable.
Pregnant, of course, being another, if you think about it (even though people, referring to size, not the actual condition, will note that someone is very pregnant).
I know some people who would quibble about "virgin," but let's not go there ...
D
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