A local news anchor said, "After the break, an upcoming appearance by a famous pop star."

Can someone be a pop star and not be famous?

saranita

Perhaps the distinction being made was not between fame and obscurity, but between fame and infamy. "A famous pop star" to make it clear that the person in question was not Michael Jackson.

Thanks for the laugh, Vernon.

saranita

In that sentence, there is even a second redundancy, in my view: After.. and upcoming - but probably this is necessary in a medium which you only listen to with half an ear.

>>After the break, an upcoming appearance

more sloppy than redundant: after [this commercial] break, [we'll have news of] an upcoming appearance by...

In her "coverage" of the Oscars, Joan Rivers used the phrase "well-known celebrities." I thought to point this redundancy out to her but she's not in my speed-dialer.

I agree with all of you. No doubt I am guilty, from time to time, of similar redundancies, but I would try not to do it on camera.

saranita

So what's wrong with a little redundancy? There's times when y'all prescrips pule and micturate when folks *don't use redundancy.

So what's wrong with a little redundancy?

When Joan Rivers does it, it is a bad thing.

>In her "coverage" of the Oscars, Joan Rivers used the phrase "well-known celebrities."

In an unnecessary effort, one assumes, to differentiate between well-known celebrities and less-er-known celebrities like herself.

*I think the opening post is yet another example of the greed that is so rampant/overwhelmingly obvious in broadcast media; television more than radio, I think. They want our attention** so that (they hope) we will also watch their commercials and then (they hope even more) buy the advertised products. If we do, they can then go to the companies that paid them for the ads and say, "Gee, look how much money you made thanks to advertising through us; now why don't you either pay us a higher rate for the same ads, or pay us more to run more ads?" GRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

**And one way to try to hold attention is to give "teasers" about what's coming next. Even newscasts do it, as in, "Are we in for a terrible storm? Tune in to our weather forecast after the break and find out". again.

In the Joan Rivers-type ex., I think it's probably more due to having to speak "off the cuff" than anything. Apparently dead air time is the ultimate no-no, so they blather without necessarily thinking first.

Regarding the word "blather" -- it occurs to me that dictionaries could accurately define it with a picture of Joan Rivers. Regarding those ominious "teasers" -- I remember when my children were teens (before cell phones) and out for the evening, how troubling it was to hear a 10 p.m. teaser for the 11 o'clock news, such as, "Four high school students were killed tonight in Scioto County. Details at 11." A parent can die a thousand deaths in an hour.

saranita

And every time I see the word "stranger" there beneath my name, I always want to ask, "Stranger than what?"

saranita

Post a couple more times, saranita, and you'll lose the stranger moniker.

Meanwhile, may I suggest the obvious re: commercials? PBS and NPR.

<<lesser known celebrities>>

Ouch

Post 1: Lose the moniker, I may, but I shall continue to wonder what or whom I am stranger than. It's such a long list, you see.

saranita

Anna, you elitist, you! Unfortunately, PBS and NPR don't offer the local city traffic watch, and that I gotta have. I must try harder to remember the reason I'm sacrificing quality when I get aggravated at the mistakes from the local news desk and the reporters who exclaim, "That's right!" every time an anchor cuts to one of them.

saranita

the distinction being made was not between fame and obscurity, but between fame and infamy.

I have a bit of a profile in my region because I've been on radio. Whenever someone refers to me as "famous" I always say I prefer the term "notorious".

I remember hearing a journalist talking about trying to avoid cliches in his writing, and finding that if he referred to, say, Peter Sellers, the editor would always add "the late, great", even if the journalist hadn't put it in. Sometimes ya can't win.



Saranita
(stranger )
Mon Apr 11 15:31:11 2005
Re: redundancy

Left Saranita's signature inadvertently. It WUZ me what said that...

Anna, you elitist, you! Unfortunately, PBS and NPR don't offer...

However and even more unfortunately, PBS and NPR are *offering more and more commercial time for their local sponsors.

I think I may have heard a cry of outrage emanating from somewhere in the wilds of New York that sounded something like, "Oh, the humanities!"

saranita

Elitist schmilitist ~musick

Took the words right out of my mouth, did you now.



something like, "Oh, the humanities!" ~saranita

Oh, the physical sciences!