A quick one that comes to mind is that when something bad happens when it's not dark it's always been done in "broad daylight." I know this is meant to emphasize that someone should have seen it and stopped it. After all, daylight was "broad" and there were no concealing shadows. Unless of course the groundhog saw his shadow and then, keep the woolies out.
When I wrote my posting on the passing of Russell Baker I told the story of creating a "commonplace" book of newspaper writing and quotes that were especially pithy. I abandoned the idea and went down the blog road instead.
But now that I think of it, I'm going to start to collect phrases that are replacements for cliche writing. When the reporter didn't stoop to the hackneyed phrase and instead came up with something quite original and worth hanging onto.
With my antenna raised, I found two articles on the same day that contained great language.
The first involved Wednesday's reporting on the El Chapo trail in New York Federal Count. Anyone who is even slightly abreast of the news knows that the drug kingpin (it's always a kingpin) has been accused of being a major drug trafficker, murderer...the indictment goes on.
Well, the prosecution has presented testimony that has gone on for 10 weeks. The defense took 30 minutes with one witness. But key to the reporting is that the NYT reporter Alan Feuer wrote: "...for more than 10 weeks the government buried the defendant in a Matterhorn of evidence." Damn that's good.
The second instance of expressive language was found Wednesday as well in the WSJ. They have an op-ed page as well, and nestled in the lower left corner was a story headlined: "The Senator Who Became a Pop Star"
Occasionally in this corner a story such as this appears. This is about the Illinois senator Everett Dirksen, from Illinois, who in the 1950s and 1960s cut an oratorical figure in the Senate that could have earned him credit for being America's answer to Winston Churchill.
Dirksen was distinguished looking with a good-looking suit and a full-head of hyacinth grey locks. In that era, anyone of distinction, or even low distinction, wore a necktie, not like Roget Goodell, the NFL commissioner who makes what, tens and tens of millions annually, but wears an open collar shirt and jacket to a Super Bowl news conference. He's not alone with the open collar, but it does sort of lower the opinion of the guy.
Anyway, Dirksen did have a rumbling, sonorous voice that immediately made you pay attention. Every utterance was carved out of the silence that preceded it. He was a joy to listen to, even if you didn't like anything he said.
My favorite Dirksen utterance is when he laid out what a questionable expense something was. I do not remember what it was he was talking about, but he said something to the effect..."millions and millions. Pretty soon you're talking about real money." (the quote is reported to be "billions" and the attribution to Dirksen is sketchy but one he was more than willing to accept.) In that era a million was an astounding sum. Now a single billion hardly creates a batted eye.
The article informs us Dirksen once cut a record that made it into the Top 40, the radio playlist of the era that actually played 40 songs in a four hour radio show. There was lot less blather and commercials on the airwaves then.
Dirksen voice is described as having "a voice deeper than the lower ranges of a tuba." "....ocean- floor voice..."
The song, 'Gallant Men,' if it can be called a song, consisted of Dirksen reciting words to the accompaniment of muffled snare drums, "Down through the years there have been brave men—brave gallant men..." The song was apparently co-written by Charles Wood, "who while in the service in the 1950s had been the official military announcer for the U.S. Army Band." Charles Wood became known to many of CBS "Sunday Morning" viewers as Charles Osgood.
Those of a Medicare age might remember Barry Sadler's "Green Beret" song, another spoken work tribute to the Green Berets of the Vietnam era set to martial music. It was a HUGE hit.
Rob Greene, whose piece appears in the WSJ has written a book about the 1960s, "All Summer Long." The article is an excerpt from the book.
Dirksen was a senate legend. who by 1967 he had been elected to the Senate three times, after having been a Congressman for seven terms. He passed away in 1969 after complication from lung surgery. The Senate office building is named after him.
Worth million or billions, Roger Godell can't seem to find a tie.
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