There’s a word for that — 2020 ele...
As we await the results of the 2020 presidential election, here are a few phrases to describe what we may be seeing or doing or how we may be feeling. Availability cascade — the belief that if you hear or read about something frequently it must be true. This is similar to the bandwagon effect, the idea that if many people believe in something or do something, it must be true or acceptable. Fact checking and critical thinking are ways to fight against the availability cascade and bandwagon effect. Catastophizing — assuming the worst will happen or that the worst...
An inelegant solution
Did you ever have an English teacher tell you not to use the same word twice in a paragraph? If so, he or she was encouraging you to use “elegant variation,” a practice as misguided as the ban on starting a sentence with a conjunction. Elegant variation occurs when a writer uses synonyms simply to avoid repeating the same word. Here’s an extreme example: Bananas are a good source of potassium. Eating this elongated yellow fruit can also provide you with Vitamin C. A less extreme example: Four of the defendant’s witnesses were women, while all of the plaintiff’s...
87 ways to describe 2020
Since nothing else has worked to make 2020 pass more quickly or be any less horrifying, I thought I would try some writing therapy. Below are a few alternatives to the worn-out words and phrases used to describe the events of 2020. Do these fit the feeling of 2020? Alternatives to “unprecedented” In 2020, any time a politician or a news anchor describes one event as “unprecedented” another “unprecedented” event occurs, making the first event no longer “unprecedented.” If you’re confused by all of this . . . try using one of these when something unheard-of...
