Phrases that indicate a hack writer

Serve with a loaf of warm, crusty bread,

'Gritty inner city.'

'Quaint village.'

'Fresh as a daisy.'

'Fiercely proud.'

“Hack writer.”

"pop of color" and any sentence that uses the word "amazing". Overused for absolutely everything. Annoying.

"lush instrumentation" in music album review.

"engorged member"

Shock of white hair.

Breakfast nook

Pert breasts

a dark past of his/her own

"Close-knit community."

Anything with the word "hearth" in it

Best-selling author.

They are so blessed to . . .

A dark and stormy night

"cautiously optimistic"

an axe to grind

Fuck you, R15.

"...has emerged as a thought leader in..."

Yes!! I HATE "Crisp white..." that has been written on here many times. It sucks.

"informed by" follow by a noun and not a person.

[quote] "pop of color" and any sentence that uses the word "amazing". Overused for absolutely everything. Annoying.

I beg to differ.

"hearty soup"

"nutritious meal"

"fiercely independent"

"well-appointed living room"

"cozy bedroom"

from a good family

"truth be told"

by Maggie Haberman

"Presenting hole."

Fadi Fawaz Saga part whateverthefuck

What's on his ipod?

an LGBTQ person!

"my president"

To be or not to be, etc etc

"rolling hills"

"neatly mowed lawns"

"multicultural potpourri"

"brisk walk"

Kudos, R26. (Hope "kudos" isn't indicative.)

"The sky was so blue that day."

"Phrases that indicate"

"Differently-abled"

Salt of the Earth

"Sure, Jan"

"the tragic death of ... "

Useless synonyms for the verb “said”.

“lklklkl,” she sighed.

“Jhjhjhj,” he confessed.

Inflection point

“Impacted” as a verb.

Ha, R41, I used to edit a guy who used a different verb every time he quoted someone.

Pendulous breasts or pendulous cock

“Sure, Jan”

Ha. “Sdsdsdsd,” he bristled, r44.

"at the end of the day".

She said nothing...

Exclamation points!

Slim pins

Pretty in pink

punctuation

"He suddenly lifted me, then carried me to my boudoir, where he passionately ravished me all throughout the night."

EVOO Yum-O De-lish Sammie Nutrish! - dog food that’s being sued for allegedly containing pesticides. RUT-row.

Farm-fresh anything

when TV writers say 'we wanted it to be organic'

It SHOULD be organic, but I get to (yes, get to, it's a treat) sit through two weeks of writers promoting their new TV shows and I don't mind it being said again and again; I just don't like it when it turns out not to be true when I see the show.

'in the hands of a lesser actor/actress'

again, that one is used by reviewers.

Her "battle with cancer."

R44, I try not to go overboard on that, but says says says...said said said gets a little old sometimes. but yes, it can be overdone doing just said/says

Oscar-caliber performance

Though mined for all the tropes of its antecedent, and responsible for the launching of a thousand memes, the work still manages to transcend limitations of its genre at every turn.

Meaty nutloaf

Going forward,... And at the end of the day.

sumptuous

Cradling a mug

TV weather is rife with clichés: bus stop weather; grab your umbrella; rumbles of thunder; old man winter; streets are like a skating rink; good sleeping weather- leave those windows cracked; Spring is in the air.

An exclamation point at the end of any sentence that isn't surrounded by quotation marks.

I hate that r66!

R65 ..grab an extra blanket tonight.

Vapid valley girl internet speak. It has become par for the course in alot of once decent internet magazines /publications . It's cloying, self indulgent and juvenile. I hate reading articles about politics or news that read like the ramblings of a high school girl but this type of writing has become very widespread.

Hack critics:

"Arguably the best actor of his generation"

"Sophomore outing" when referring to someone's second album

"Witty, poignant and wise"

R69 So has alot! I'm sure it was a typo.

The steak was so tender it melted in the mouth, and service was on point.

crimson lips

(just read on a post on another thread) "Stop playing that old saw, will you?"

"Decadent dessert."

Hidden gem.

Both sides ....

__ years young.

Farm to table.

Freshly cracked egg. [From numerous McDonald's commercials].

Roving bands of negro youths. [1950s-'60s TV news riot coverage].

"White stuff." [TV weathercaster second reference to snow].

"penetrating gaze"

She emerged from her reverie...

Menu writer who use: "[insert cooking verb] to perfection."

Ex.: " ...grilled to perfection!"

He said with a chuckle.

I heard a woman scream.

Just a word: "iconic".

"based off" instead of "based on"

granular

Cognizant

Do not visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, R84!

Emerging/raging tumescence

Price point instead of price.

there are no hack writers, only hack work.

Game Changer.

"My nephew Joel....."

"Her eyes narrowed suspiciously". "raging hormones".

'On a regular basis.'

“At the end of the day..”. “The feel good movie of the summer.” News-isms: “Back to you guys in the studio.” “There’s a lot to unpack.” “Here’s the tick tock.” “The news conference centered around.....”

"Thou shalt not...."

Throbbing love muscle.

Turgid member.

Of course the fat fucks on this board associate writing with food

Iconic

Impactful

r99 only associates food with filling his fat fucking face.

ahead of his skies

too much on his plate

R101 is portly

[quote]ahead of his skies

I've never seen this before.

nacreous layers of permacum

I can't stand "Broke her silence" - "Broke his silence"

I've never said that, r106.

^ Most people don't actually go around saying it but it does preface many news reports/articles.

Journalese = journalism which by definition is hack writing, efficient or otherwise. Stock phrases convey information fast without attempting originality.

OP seems to be requesting examples from lazy or second-rate authors who fall back on stock phrases when fresher language might reasonably be expected.

Most DLers are not professional writers/authors or journalists. Their talents are elsewhere.

And many authors today, particularly self published (self-help) ebook authors have experience, knowledge and insights and ideas to share but no professional writing background. If their book is interesting and/or helpful I don't care if they use words or phrases that I dislike and wouldn't use. Grammar and spelling are important and they should have hired an editor to scan the text, at the very least, but I just cnn't get into nitpicking words and phrases I dislike if the content is helpful and addresses my needs.

*can't*

"for a long time I went to bed early."

oh my!

sun-soaked mountain

I looked at him quizzicaly.

Use of the words “prone” and especially “supine”, and within the same paragraph for extra credit.

[quote]ahead of his skies

Is this said of uppity flight attendants?

R39 gets “Sure, Janned” a lot.

I'm good to go.

Robust.

Anyone needlessly deploying “cis” , “privilege”, “intersectional” or any other overused fashionable buzzword phrase

Franzen

...faintly falling, falling faintly.

Pushing the envelope

When critics describe a film as “lyrical”

“Light bites” written on party invitations

The word "exquisite."

"Chuckle." In virtually every gay novel, the characters never laugh, they chuckle. The authors of those novels are also extremely fond of using the term "the man"as not only second reference, but third, fourth, and so on to infinity; e.g., "Chad held the man tightly;" As he shot jets of ropey cum, Chad looked the man in the eye," etc.

86'd

For his (or her) part,

The words "grin," "grinned," and/or "grinning."

R109 Like “shooting spree’” “authorities say,” “is now behind bars.”

For songwriters:

Rhyming "fire" with "desire"

Rhyming "baby" with "maybe"

Symmetrical gloryhole

"She walked into the room, looking radiant without a stitch of makeup"

Fashion and celeb magazines do this a lot.

For songwriters: Rhyming "fire" with "desire" Rhyming "baby" with "maybe"

Or "wife" with "life"

"arms" with "charms"

"Myself" is always and only reflexive.

Don't misuse the word "impacted."

"Impacted" should be used only to describe wisdom teeth.

Or bowels!

When I was born, Diedre wept sweet tears...

She's as lovely as a spring day

"clutch" as a synonym for "hold"

"newly minted" as in "newly minted MBA"

"daunting"

"baffled"

“raised to be fiercely independent. “

Champion of the Oppressed

intersectional, intersectionist, interrogate, appropriate, discourse, gender (verb)

Academia is filled with horrible, jargon-choked writing. Especially in the humanities.

"grievance studies"

Gifted as a verb

he said, angrily

" piercing blue eyes"

“He’s the bad guy”; “I’m not the bad guy”; “I don’t want to be the bad guy.” It’s juvenile gibberish.

"Turned on her heel"

Any "crisp", for that matter.

Dan Mallory.

"basked in the sunshine"

When does anyone ever "bask" in anything?

"Yolk of his soul"

I think you mean 'yoke' dear. Even with a published novelist editing your PhD / debut novel, you still wrote that.

R152 Bolt off!

love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love (genius!!)

Would ‘pristine pressed white shirt slightly creased’ be okay?

"Rosy fingers of dawn"

R52 wins so far

[quote] "lush instrumentation" in music album review.

Unless it was Barbra Streisand hiring the Israeli Philharmonic to turn the Hebrew kiddush over the wine into a sub-operatic aria.

R52 is a quote from Miss Lindsey’s unpublished memoirs

Eat my ass R158!

The maiden's ample bosom heaved with desire at the thought of her returning sea captain.

The twink's ample dick heaved with desire at the thought of his returning NFL quarterback

K knightley

"Thoughts & Prayers ™"

In book reviews: “luminous”

In songs: rhyming self with “shelf” as in, put your heart back on the shelf, come down from the shelf, left on the shelf

Siskel and Ebert used to love to point out hack writing scenes in movies - like the car crashing into the fruit stand which was in any movie that had a car chase.

"All my life, I've been…"

^ Roger Ebert's Little Movie Glossary is a hilarious compendium of cliches and hackneyed scenes.....I've read it so much the cover is falling off my copy of it

Please cover your ass

it is what it is

misuse of pronouns her or him - I just heard David Muir do this in a promo = her and her mother approached I think it was

The DM has its' own private language of cliches - slim pins, pert posterior, flawless figure or complexion, makeup free, soft waves...

“Fully qualified” (adept, accepting, etc.) “Qualified” will do.