It was a network news story about the late cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar’s collection of exotic animals he had imported to his ranch in Columbia the 1980’s. Among the animals were three female hippos and one male. The government is trying to move them now that the Escobar ranch has been abandoned. Well, the four hippos became very friendly and there are now estimated to be between 130 and 160 hippos. The government plans to fly the “cocaine hippos” to India and Mexico because they are a threat to the ecosystem in Columbia. While this is a bizarre and interesting story, the correspondent couldn’t help himself. Instead of saying four hippos grew to be well over a hundred, he called the original hippos “a handful of hippos”. While using the word “handful” to describe a small amount, is vague and inexact, using it to describe hippos is lazy and absurd.
He’s not the only offender. You can hear the language being abused by cliches everyday by anchors and reporters on television. Recent stories about the heavy snow and flooding in California and parts of the Midwest, are a fountain of overused words and phrases. Storms “pummel” and “wreck havoc”. Pummel means to beat someone with fists. Wreck havoc does mean to damage or destroy or ruin. But when was the last time you used it in conversation? Why not tell me what the actual damage was. “Roadways” become impassable. Would you describe the street or road you live on as a “roadway”? If you’re going to be outside becomes, “if you’re going to be out and about.” About what?
An investigation of anything becomes “a probe”. Which I bet you never say. An important story is always “major”. Reporters will stick it in front of just about any story in an attempt to increase its importance no matter how ordinary the story may be. TV news organizations have managed to reduce the term they believe is the most important in the English language to be meaningless. Of course, what’s a newscast without “Breaking News”? It should mean something that’s just happened or is still changing and viewers and listeners aren’t aware of it. Now everything is “breaking news”. NBC Nightly News has the words on every story through the newscast. Something that happened in the morning or afternoon is not breaking at 6:30 that evening. Now that everyone carries a phone, there are very few big stories that people don’t know about at the end of the day.
Let us not forget one of the most misused words in the English language, “Literally”. It’s almost always used incorrectly, and I would argue, it never has be used. Literally means something concrete and real. For instance, “ My hands are literally tied.” It means someone needs to get a knife and cut you loose. “My hands are tied. I can’t help you”, is figurative and describes the situation. The person you’re speaking to doesn’t need that knife to understand what you mean.
I’m still wondering how many hippos are in handful.
You are literally so right. People wreck havoc with their recounting of major stories, probes or otherwise. Great article and one that can be enjoyed without worrying about the next coup.
Everyday I grapple with the daily barrage of breaking news and what he impact of all of is on us individually and collectively. It grabs our attention no doubt – but how does it impact us over the long term is more difficult to answer. What I prefer in print journalism is the not is that there are more details, it is more nuanced, there is better follow-up . Nightly news is a half hour program with 15 minutes of commercial time – not much detail or follow up. This is often true throughout the day in the 24 hour news cycle – lots of breaking news – not enough detail or follow up.