journalese

English

Etymology

From journal +‎ -ese.

Pronunciation

Noun

journalese (countable and uncountable, plural journaleses)

  1. A style of writing used in some newspapers and magazines, characterized by cliché, hyperbolic language, use of some vocabulary items that are mostly confined to this genre, and clipped syntax.
    Synonym: newspaperese
    Hyponyms: headlinese, tabloidese
    • c. 2000, Joe Grimm, Detroit Free Press:
      We write journalese out of habit, sometimes from misguided training, and to sound urgent, authoritative and, well, journalistic. But it doesn't do any of that.
    • 2004, Rick Thompson, Writing for Broadcast Journalists, Routledge, →ISBN, page 21:
      The veteran newspaper columnist, Keith Waterhouse, identifies two versions of this journalese. The first is officialese. It can be found everywhere [] The second version, which he calls tabloidese, is characterised by bolted-together monosyllables and sensationalism. Both types of journalese have this in common: people don't speak like that.

Translations

See also