Digg this: Journalists Use of Word “Soar”, Soars
I soared out of bed to find my lack of coffee soaring. My distaste for the cold weather began to soar as I picked up the paper and was sore to discover that journalists use of word “Soar”; was soaring.
Google News search shows 3,689 news stories between Jan 25, 2007 and Jan 26, 2007 with “soar”, “soars”, or “soaring” in the headline. That’s 3,689 news stories in one freaking day with this terribly overused word. A search for usage anywhere in the article returns 21,862 news stories in the same time frame:
“The soaring cost of football tickets”
“The View Continues To Soar”
“Lockheed’s 2006 net earnings soar 39%”
“Prices soar for Calif. citrus after temperatures plummet”
“Nucor 4Q profit climbs on stronger sales prices– stock soars”
“China aluminum products exports soar to 74pc”
But it is not just this news search; no no. I have noticed the ridiculous over usage of “Soar” every day in local and regional newspapers. So much so that I have began to hate its usage. “Slightly increases”?, “Grows tremendously!”?, “Expands”?. NO apparently none of these other words can ever be used. It has to be “Soar”.
The best definition for soars is ‘to rapidly increase to extreme heights’. Call me crazy but “China’s economy soars 10.7%” doesn’t seem right. Is a small 11% increase really soaring? China’s economy has reached such unprecedented eagle-like heights, rocketing to the far reaches of space that it increased 11%? NO! 11% is a tiny, insignificant increase that is little more than the margin of error for any study.
This disgusting overuse continues:
“Trolley popularity soars in south Scottsdale”
(Really? All the residents in Scottsdale are now riding the trolley? Oh, okay, you meant 180 more people than usual. Well that is not really soaring. You meant to say “Trolley popularity grows in south Scottsdale”.)
“Peoria passport applications soar”
(All of the 110,000 people living in Peoria applied for a passport!? No only 500!? Well that is still such a great story; PUT IT ON THE FRONT PAGE!)
“Soaring international demand for corn”
(Your right. I used to get emails asking me to send $2,500 to Nigeria to have $30 million wired to me. Now, the email reads: “For a small fee of 100 corn stalks….”)
In response to journalist’s use of the word “Soar”, soaring; I have compiled a short list of suggested replacements. (Feel free to add to the list).
-It’s a boring story, just give up
-Increases
-Slightly Increases
-Grows
-Expands
-Ascends
-Climbs
-Rises
-Rockets
-Escalates
-Improves
-Defies the laws of gravity
-Explodes into the stratosphere
-Launches uncontrollably
-Is on fire!
-It’s your birthday! It’s your birthday!
-Is king of the world
-Makes love to it’s investors