Chapter XV · NEWSPAPER BROMIDES

Contrary to the opinions of many, the newspaper has saved its readers from that modern perversion of our already forcible English, slang. It has pruned its language of affectation, fine writing and indiscriminate and excessive use of adjectives.—From an address by the Rev. William B. Norton, of Evanston, Ill., as reported by the Chicago Evening Post.

If a reporter is lazy or inclined to “fine writing” he has only to reach into the grab-box of his memory to draw out a word or phrase, all ready to his hand, that seems to suit the occasion. Was the horse running fast? Then it was going at “breakneck speed.” Did the young woman who was pulled out of the river fall in love with her rescuer? Then “her gratitude melted into love.” It was the “old, old story.” She became his “blushing bride” and the news of the marriage was to the discarded suitor “like a bolt from a clear sky.” “A host of friends” attended the “nuptials” and the “happy couple” were “showered with congratulations.”

Handy, cut-and-dried expressions will creep into copy unless the reporter is always on the alert to find the right word. Many of the figures of speech in this category doubtless possessed charm and piquancy at one time, but through long usage they have sunk to a meaningless level. They have become part of the stock in trade of the “fine writer,” who seeks to confound the reader with large words. Other words and phrases are merely trivial or in poor taste. The news writer should study to fit his words exactly to the meaning he intends to convey, instead of lazily giving way to the temptation to draw on a ready-made stock.

“Bromides” is the name given by the newspaper man to this stock of handy expressions. The term is thus defined in a bulletin issued by a metropolitan newspaper for its copy readers: “A bromide, in a newspaper office, is a word, phrase or expression, or turn of style, that is especially lacking in originality—overworked, hackneyed—a ‘chestnut.’ The daily travail of the editor and the copy reader is in scouting for errors of grammar and skirmishing with inaccuracy and awkwardness. But it is a massacre of libel; a war of extermination against bromides.”

The following list of “bromides” includes both trite and grandiose expressions which the news writer will do well to avoid and the copy reader to eliminate if they are passed on to him. The list is intended to be only suggestive of the evils of “bromidic” writing. It is far from exhaustive. Almost any newspaper man could add similar expressions which have come within his experience:

admiring friends

agent of death

ancestral domain

and many others

angry mob

arch culprit

avenging justice

battle-scarred veteran

beautiful and accomplished

bereaved widow

better half

beyond peradventure of a doubt

big mogul (locomotive)

bleeding, mangled form

blunt instrument

blushing bride

body of the deceased

bolt from a clear sky

bonds of matrimony

bosom of the briny deep

bourne from which no traveler returns

brand from the burning

breakneck speed

break the news gently

breathless silence

burden of bluecoats

burly negro

busy marts of trade

carnival of crime

catch of the season

caught like a rat in a trap

caught red-handed

certain party (for person)

challenge contradiction

checkered career

city bastile

city’s fair escutcheon

clutches of the law

commercial emporium

conspicuous by his absence

contracting parties (in marriage)

conventional black

cool as a cucumber

cowering poltroon

crisp ten-dollar bill

crowded to its utmost capacity

culminated in the nuptials

cynosure of all eyes

Dan Cupid’s dart

dastardly assassin

day of reckoning

delicious refreshments

demure miss

devoted slave

devouring element

diabolical outrage

divine (for preacher)

divine passion

dull, corroding care

dull, sickening thud

durance vile

dusky damsel

downy couch

ebbing life blood

effected an entrance

eked out a bare existence

elegant creation

entered a state of coma

evening repast

exigencies of the occasion

extended heartfelt sympathy

facile pen

failed to materialize

fair sex

fair women and brave men

fateful words

feast of reason

feathered songster

fell design

festive occasion

fever heat

few and far between

fiery steed

first fall of the beautiful

fleeting breath

foeman worthy of his steel

for it was none other than he

formulated a design

fragrant Havana

frenzied finance

furtively secreting

gathered to his fathers

general public

genial boniface

gilded youth

goes without saying

grand old party

gratitude melted into love

great beyond

grewsome spectacle

grim reaper

groaned under the weight of toothsome viands

hairbreadth escape

happy benedict

heartrending screams

hied himself

high dudgeon

high road to recovery

host of friends

human freight

hungry flames

hurled defiance

hymeneal altar

immaculate linen

in a clerical capacity

inclemency of the weather

inner circles of society

jury of his peers

kind and indulgent father

knights of the grip

large and enthusiastic audience

last but not least

late lamented

launched into eternity

leaden missile

light collation

lingering illness

lion of all social gatherings

little blind god

located his whereabouts

lodged in jail

long sleep (death)

lull before the storm

lurid flames

made good his escape

man of parts

maze of mystery

minions of the law

modicum of notoriety

mourned their loss

natty suit

neatly engraved invitations

neat sum

never in the history of

news leaked out

nice manners

nick of time

nipped in the bud

notorious crook and police character

old, old story (love)

oldest inhabitant

one fell swoop

one fine day

own inimitable way

pale as death

pangs of poverty

phials of his scorn

piercing shriek of anguish

pillar of the church

police dragnet

populace was up in arms

portals of his living tomb

portent of evil

prepossessing appearance

present incumbent

presided at the piano

prominent (of persons)

public prints

put in an appearance

quiet home wedding

raging torrent

rash act

recipient of handsome and costly presents

remains (for body)

rendered a widow

ripe old age

rising young barrister

rooted to the spot

rumors are rife

rushed post haste

sacred edifice

sad rites

sad tidings

scene beggared description

seemed to spring from thin air

serious but not necessarily fatal

set the town agog

shook like a leaf

shorn of his accustomed affability

shrouded in mystery

silver-tongued orator

sixteen summers (in giving age)

smoking revolver

snorting iron horse (locomotive)

snug income

sole topic of conversation

spread like wildfire

stepped into the breach

sterling worth and high promise

still evening air

stood aghast

storm king

stung with remorse

succulent bivalve

suicide (as a verb)

summoned medical aid

sustained an injury

swathed in bandages

sweet slumber

thickest of the fray

this mortal coil

tidy sum

tiny tots

tireless vigil

tonsorial parlor

took into custody

took the bit in his teeth

totally destroyed

to the bitter end

tried and true official

tripped the light fantastic

ubiquitous reporter

unbiased probe

under cover of the darkness

unfortunate victim

unique in the city’s annals

united in the bonds of matrimony

upholders of law and order

vale of tears

vanished as if the earth had swallowed him up

vengeance his portion

viewed the remains

vouches for the authenticity of

war to the knife

waxed eloquent

weaker sex

wedded bliss

wee sma’ hours

weird scene

well-known club man

white as a sheet

wildest excitement

with becoming grace

without fear of successful contradiction

witnesses duly sworn