Allow me to “lean in” to an argument. The scourge of empty-headed jargon needs to be addressed. The problem is that the addressee is then seen as a crank, a fuddy-duddy, out of touch and possibly old, with misplaced priorities attendant.
Take Pete Hegseth. That was a doozy of a press conference, richly deserving of ridicule by Colin Jost and “S.N.L.” Which one? Good point. They’re all alike, the forceful delivery meant to communicate competence but carrying little or no meaning, the blatant cheerleading meant to signify patriotism but appearing unserious, to use a term suddenly in heavy rotation on the airwaves, with good reason.
And, yes, the jargon. He thanked a military higher-up at a lectern stage left for tackling “this problem set.” Isn’t a problem set what undergraduate engineering students are assigned?
Not to trivialize the grim business that Hegseth himself was trivializing. Maybe we should all be grateful he didn’t praise the “skill set” of the Tomahawk missile operator.
Skill set, as shopworn as it is, nonetheless has legs, having advanced beyond the argot of the job applicant into the vernacular of even the relentless scribes of The Athletic, speaking here as a fan of those guys and the occasional gal who seemingly pull all-nighters, every night, to fill my morning inbox with news of the sporting world.
Which no doubt is one of the problems: the constant demand for content and not enough time to churn it out. The N.F.L.’s free agency activity has been going full bore this week, to the point that it’s hard to keep up with all the breaking news, and “skill set” can be too readily employed to describe, say, the abilities of that edge defender who may be explosive out of the blocks to get after the quarterback but who simply lacks the heft for stuffing the run.
In a way, we’re all just spectators at this dance of the 800-pound gorillas, the N.F.L. and The N.Y. Times, the latter the organization that subsumed The Athletic whole hog in 2022 and a year later canned the entirety of its own sports section. A shrewd move, it turned out, particularly in light of what’s befallen The Washington Post, diminished in coverage, compromised in ownership, its sports and arts and editorial sections having plopped in the pan following excisions of debatable necessity.
The spread of news deserts in towns and smaller cities across the country may be well known, but it’s worth wondering if we’ll soon be down to a single newsgathering watchdog with nationwide reach, comprehensive coverage, a balanced editorial page, deep pockets, and ample staff.
For now, this reader, at least, will gladly look the other way as The Times’s monthly digital subscription rate goes up, yet again, by 5 bucks, yet again.
But please, can we agree that the copy-editing department is no place to cut corners?