Wednesday, February 09, 2005

News Phrases

I was watching a bit of local news last night. It seems as though all these stations use the same stupid phrases in every broadcast. For instance, John Smith is armed and considered dangerous. Doesn't armed say it all? I'd like to meet someone armed and safe for a change. Do they really need to say "and dangerous" after saying someone is armed? I always liked this one, Jane Doe was an "innocent bystander." Why do we always have to use innocent before the word bystander? Dooesn't the word bystander already tell us the person was "standing by" and not involved with whatever was going on? They always have to throw the "innocent" in there for some reason. Have you ever met a guilty bystander?

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