His eyes open wide in vision stared sternly across the sunbeam in which he halted
Some of the italicised words are pure slang and have no place in respectable writing – celebs and nookie, for example. Others come under the heading of coy or vulgar euphemism – toyboy, love child, love nest, cheating and stunner are what might more directly be called gigolo, illegitimate child, flat, committing adultery and mistress .
Some are simply failures of terminology: those who ride horses go riding, not horse riding; and those who shoot or hunt practise field sports. (…)
The main objection to most of the tabloid language highlighted above is that it devalues the currency. If somebody is devastated because his football team has lost a match, how does he feel when he gets home and finds his wife and children have been killed in a fire?
{ Simon Heffer on The language of tabloid exaggeration | The Guardian | Continue reading }
