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1435286
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# Telegraph style book: banned words
12:01AM GMT 19 Feb 2008
This is a list that is liable to grow.
* [Telegraph Style Book: introduction][1]
ace is acceptable when describing a card, it is not to be used to describe
someone who excels at something
ahead of (before is shorter)
as of now
autopsy (Americanism)
## Related Articles
* [Introduction][2]
10 Jan 2008
bid (when we mean attempt)
blasted
bloodbath
boardroom antics
boffin
breathtaking
bubbly (both for champagne and young women)
budget airline
chairperson, chair (chairman is correct English)
choke back tears
clampdown
closet (as an adjective)
coffers
come out (for homosexual and lesbian people)
crackdown, cracks down
crowd pleaser
deep throat
disgraced managers, innocent victims and all their tribe are out
doctors fought to save
entitled (when we are referring to something's name)
epitome of
Europhobe
fall pregnant
fighting for his life
frail grannies
green light
heartbreak
hit series
gunned down
hike (when we mean a rise)
huge
iconic
jaw-dropping
loaned (no such verb: used lent)
luxury (as an adjective: very tabloid)
mass exodus
meet with
mission creep
mum-to-be
mystery callers
nation's favourite
order of magnitude
over, when the sense is more than
perfect storm
perverted Scout leaders
prestigious
prior to
probe (when we mean inquiry)
quizzed is not an acceptable substitute for questioned.
revellers
rubbish (as a verb)
set to, as in "The Church of England was last night set to..." or "The FA is
set to name...", is to be avoided at all costs in text and headlines.
shocked
simply (as in "simply fill in the form")
slammed is acceptable for a door, but not as a metaphor for criticism.
slashed (instead of cut)
snapped (of a photograph)
sparked (when we mean caused)
stretcher - it is not a verb
stunned
stunning (unless the subject really is unconscious)
toff
toilet
Trademark (except when referring to trademarks); never refer to someone
"wearing his trademark hat" etc.
try and (it is try to)
U-turns are reversals, about-turns or rethinks. Avoid cliches, especially
horrors like "a furious row erupted" and "massive heart attack". "Brutal
murder/rape" is a tautology: we should assume all such crimes are brutal.
Watch out for hackneyed expressions such as ordeal, crackdown, feisty,
legendary, lifestyle, major, massive, mammoth, bumper, bonanza, boost,
effectively, pinta, copy-cat, look-alike, tit-for-tat and substitute proper
words, where the word or phrase is not redundant.
Phrases taken from film titles, such as home alone, are over-used. Instead of
saying that children are left "home alone" say "left alone". It's better. Our
readers know that parents whose children have been murdered or otherwise
killed are "devastated" and "heart-broken" and we should not stupidly say that
they are.
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book-banned-words.html
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## [Style Book][8]
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