Bad Lede Writing 101 With Michael Klein: Episode 1, “The Generalissimo”
If Philly begins to look a tad more courant in coming weeks, it’s because TLC’s What Not to Wear was in town last week to ambush four local women and make over their wardrobes.
Reallllllllly, Michael? It would only take FOUR women to make a dent in this City of Slobs? Just four and suddenly, we’re Miami? Realllllly now. And pray tell, Michael, have you ever seen this show? Are you aware of the cookie-cutter Limited Express junk clothes WNTW pours its hapless subjects into? Really now. Tell me the truth, Michael: You don’t own a television, do you? You’ve never seen this show at all, have you? Now get out of my office before you tell me the population of Philly is 12.
“Bad Lede Writing 101 With Michael Klein” is brought to you in part by a generous donation from the “How In The Fuck Do You People Have Jobs” Fund. It will appear intermittently on Philebrity as warranted.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:29 am
I looked it up to make sure I wasn’t missing an alternate meaning or something:
Courant: Heraldry. (of an animal) represented in the act of running: a greyhound courant.
Is it just me or does that make no sense whatsoever? Could it be that he meant “current”? Am I not smart enough to pick up on some clever play on words, or is it an honest-to-god homonym mix up where the more obscure homonym is accidentally used? Am I thinking to hard about this?
August 12th, 2008 at 11:40 am
If you had to research it, yes you are trying to hard. He really meant “au courant” which simply means roughly “in fashion,” “fashionable,” “with fahsion/style” etc. I think he really really meant “couture” which I thought was just a noun meaning “high fashion” but I’ve seen used as an adjective a lot in the past year (the female lead in 30 Days of Night used it as a sorta adjectnoun throughout the electronic press kit for the movie).
Speaking of stuff making no sense _and_ trying to hard. What’s with taking the lede to an A&E puff piece so literally? I mean did everyone on staff drink too much viper wine, developing some sort of Aspergers spectrum disorder making y’all mega-deaf to jesting figurative speech? I’ll just wait for Philebrity to become the National Review. This may be fun.
Shoulda led with the rainbow.
August 12th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Or the trolley crash.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Perhaps right next door to “Bad Lede Writing 101″ is your class,”Titling So Terrible I Don’t Know Why I’m Considered A Writer.” This, of course, is down the hall from the class that you teach as an expert in the field: “Scouring Other Publications for Content Written By Real Journalists to Rip Apart and Poke Fun At, So That You Can Call Yourself A Blogger.”
BTW: Writing about gossip columnists doesn’t make you a gossip columnist. It just makes you seem desperate for material. K Thanks.