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Quarterback/Signal-caller

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Billy Pritchard, Dec 27, 2006.

  1. I know this has been talked about on other posts, but I couldn't find the specific one I remember reading recently.
    Anyway, here's my dilemma: my SE continually makes changes in my stories that bother me. Examples, he changes "quarterback" to "signal-caller," "quarter" to "frame," "scored" to "tallied," etc.
    I know to some on here that's not a big deal, but I hate changing a word just because it's already been used in a story. I want to tell him that, but I worry he's going to think I'm saying my writing is better than his.
    What's the best way to get my point across without sounding condescending?
     
  2. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    Ask him why.
    When he says to vary your writing, ask "but don't you think these are outdated cliches? Isn't it better to keep things simple?"
     
  3. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    Those are beyond weak edits. He's putting in words that good editors remove because they suck giant donkey balls.

    How the hell is he an editor -- at any level?
     
  4. Ace

    Ace Well-Known Member

    Billy,

    Here is your solution. Start using those words in your stories.

    Wrestlers are mat maulers or sweat swabbers
    Distance runners are harriers
    Track athletes are thinclads
    Basketball players are cagers
    Etc.

    Use those only. Then let the sport editor change them back to wrestlers, runners, etc., and he gets to feel good about making changes and you get it the way you want it in the first place.

    (They guy is not a good editor, by the way. He is plain wrong.)
     
  5. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    Just shoot the dumb fuck (he should not be an editor)!
     
  6. Sam Mills 51

    Sam Mills 51 Well-Known Member

    Billy, all you can probably do is endure. Though I do like S-P's suggestion, and I'm not a big gun type.

    Sounds like this fool is changing things to magnify his self-importance and justify his position.
     
  7. sportschick

    sportschick Active Member

    I'm with spnited, just shoot the stupid fuck.
     
  8. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    I am a staunch anti-gun person... there are necessary exceptions, however.
     
  9. shockey

    shockey Active Member

    just tell him there are reasons you don't use words like that. and that those who can't, edit.

    what a nightmare this genius is, huh?
     
  10. SF_Express

    SF_Express Active Member

    "tallied" makes my blood run cold.

    Here's an odd thing I've noticed. These words are starting to show up places again. It's almost like a retro or nostalgia phase, or something.

    I have, for example, seen a couple of "tilts" on the web or in print recently.
     
  11. spnited

    spnited Active Member

    It's all ESPN's fault, SF.
     
  12. Freelance Hack

    Freelance Hack Active Member

    If used sparingly, those words aren't bad. In fact, I used the term sharpshooter for a guard just the other day. But that was it. I used it once.

    Why do you need quarterback (or any variation) in the story more than once? The term quarterback is a title, an identifier to an actual person. Unless it's in quotes, which wouldn't be changed anyway, you shouldn't have to use the word so often that it has to get changed for variety's sake.
     
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