As a writer and editor, I’m probably more sensitive than most people to corporate euphemisms, which serve no other purpose than to put a pretty spin on an ugly action. They dilute meaning and whitewash color. It’s no secret that I don’t like them. And by “don’t like them,” I mean “feel like a cheese grater is slicing my skin whenever I hear them.”
Journalists, and their corporate owners, are not immune to these words. In fact, I found eight of them in this memo, which attempts to justify the Washington Post‘s recent decision to cut back its Book World. See how many you can find.
Anthony Pignataro 