[Footnote 6: 'Dramatic' has recently become one of the most overworked

words in the vocabulary of journalism
[Footnote 6: 'Dramatic' has recently become one of the most overworked
words in the vocabulary of journalism. It constantly appears, not only
in the text of the picturesque reporter, but in head-lines and on
bulletin-boards. When, on July 20, 1911, Mr. Asquith wrote to Mr.
Balfour to inform him that the King had guaranteed the creation of
peers, should it prove necessary for the passing of the Parliament Bill,
one paper published the news under this head-line: 'DRAMATIC ANNOUNCEMENT
BY THE PRIME MINISTER,' and the parliamentary correspondent of another
paper wrote: 'With dramatic suddenness and swiftness, the Prime Minister
hurled his thunderbolt at the wavering Tory party yesterday.' As a
matter of fact, the letter was probably not 'hurled' more suddenly or
swiftly than the most ordinary invitation to dinner: nor can its
contents have been particularly surprising to any one. It was probably
the conclusiveness, the finality, of the announcement that struck these
writers as 'dramatic.' The letter put an end to all dubiety with a
'short, sharp shock.' It was, in fact, crisp. As a rule, however,
'dramatic' is employed by the modern journalist simply as a rather
pretentious synonym for the still more hackneyed 'startling.']


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