You read that right: "Engfish" with an "f" An Engfisher is, apparently, a speaker or writer who uses two or three words when he or she could more effectively use only one.
There is a reason I bring up this strange linguistic quirk.
As someone who was more or less a "shut-in" even before the Covid debacle, yours fooly was and continues to be an inveterate tube viewer. (This habit would under most circumstances be deemed shameful, apart from the fact that at times reading becomes difficult with vision loss associated with cataracts.)
That leaves the idiot box whose images are easier than print to see. What to watch? My Bitter Half warns against spending too much time watching shows saved on the DVR. On the major networks and seemingly countless cable channels, there is an abundance of offerings with little or no quality.
I'm no fan of the 20+ shopping networks, game shows, decades-old sitcom reruns, soaps (the few that are still running), courtroom judges (both real and mock), cooking shows (on which videotaped pre-pandemic audiences can be heard applauding stalks of broccoli) and most sports. For regular broadcast viewing, only news talk shows remain.
Not the best choice, by any stretch. For one thing, the news talk shows generally take one political position, and one political position only. Very rarely do they present a spokesperson to present the other side. Very often the effect — please shoot me if I ever say "end result"is a situation of "preaching to the converted." More often than that, frequent viewers tune in to have their opinions. not challenged, but confirmed.
There is, however, something worse than that. Many (shoot me again if I say "vast majority") commentators repeat the same catch phrases. Why do they even show up in the studio, or these days, turn on "Zoom"? Why not replay a looped tape? That's not much different than a typical news day, on which the discussion centers on one topic, chewed and rechewed
That's not much different than what's shown these days. It has occurred to me that some of these talk show guests merely like to hear themselves talk.
Yet why — I plead — do they use 40 words when 10 would suffice? Sometimes they don't even use the words they choose correctly, mispronouncing "formidable"and mistaking the meanings of "reticent," consternation" and using "concerning," instead of "troubling" or "worrisome." Why do they use "Engfish"? And for all that's good and holy, why do all these so-called pundits sound alike? We are becoming one big Engfish machine. Let's hope this isn't a glimpse of an Orwellian future.
Just park me in front of the firing squad if I say "going forward."
https://www.thoughtco.com/engfish-an...g-term-1690596