In another thread I have been discussing the tendency of newspaper to use a special kind of language that would never be used in normal conversation.
Thus nobody is annoyed - they demonstrate "fury"; nobody is upset, they are "inconsolable"; families are not inconvenienced by a ten-minute power cut, they are subjected to a "lift-trap nightmare".
To start this project, let me share some examples from a recent edition of London Lite, one of London's free evening papers.
Cops smash £100M drugs ring Heartbreak Lily (about a presenter whose TV show is not doing as well as it might) Life looks rosy for fab Amy (about some overexposed pop star who has managed to stay off drugs for a whole week) Poles leaving recession=hit UK Hated Heather will leave UK (about Sir Paul McCartney's wife, presently going through a very public divorce)
Any more?
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
I don't have a newspaper to hand as I write this so I can't quote actual examples, but ...
No result (in sports, etc) is just unexpected: it is always a shock; a building on fire is usually an inferno; someone dying is always a tragedy; there are plenty more ...
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
As I posted in that other thread a headline I saw only today was Knife Injuries Swamp Hospitals by which I assume they mean (it was someone else's paper so I didn't get to read the article) that someone has noticed an increase in knife related injuries at some hospitals somewhere. I seriously doubt that they are swamped as that would mean they have no time to deal with anything else.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
In that other thread, I told Richard that I didn't think journalese exists. I suppose I'd better stick to my earlier conviction, though, you've all presented some great evidence that might make me change my mind. I'll have to think about it.
Perhaps the media have pulled the wool over my eyes, and I just don't recognize it as such. However, I consider it good writing. While some of those words might be over the edge (such as inferno for fire), many are just good descriptors, aren't they? Let's face it, Hillary did have a meltdown in New Hampshire. The cops do smash (to smithereens!) drug rings. It's a tragedy when someone dies.
I consider it highly unlikely that she had any such thing. She probably lost some support - in no way did her nuclear core self-destruct!
Oh, come on. We are all wordaholics here, and we certainly all realize that words take on different meanings. Yes, I'd call it a meltdown, neveu. One of the definitions, courtesy of the online AHD, is "an emotional breakdown." We all saw her breaking up and near tears. That certainly is one description of one's emotions breaking down.
In the past 10 years or so (I am estimating the time), I have noticed such a negativity toward our media. I think this is just another example of that. Yes, some journalists use journalese (defined by the online Random House Dictionary as "a manner of writing or speaking characterized by cliches, occasional neologism, archness, sensationalizing adjectives, unusual or faulty syntax, etc., used by some journalists, esp. certain colummnists...). But, then, other writers, including on forums and Blogs and the like, also use "sensationalizing" adjectives.
If the word "meltdown" has taken on the meaning "emotional breakdown" then it's certainly not a meaning I had previously heard - nor, indeed, one that is in the Dictionary.com link that Jerry posted.
I suggest that it is still a US-English journalese term which may, or may not, become a mainstream UK English word.
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
Most of the bloggers on the you tube site seem to think her emotions were "fake" or "phony". It might be more generous to say she was acting the role. But meltdown? I don't think so.
Possibly I'm the only one here who has actually worked for newspapers and I'm here to say journalese definitely exists in the flashy-trashy, hackneyed language of some, but certainly not all, newspapers. It also exists in the quirky old style of magazines like Time, in which every person described was given two unexpected adjectives (I'm thinking of an old New Yorker cartoon of a Time Magazine reception where one guy in a tuxedo is introducing someone to an entire circle of men as "mild, mordant Gill Lilliantha1, cheerful, sardonic Stan Wheat, etc.)
Scanning over the front page of this morning's Philadelphia Inquirer, I find only one headline that is slightly journalesy: "DeNaples filing rips perjury charges." It's over the story of a casino owner who is counter suing the city, which is trying to block his building of a gambling facility in a certain neighborhood. It's also a one-column headline, the toughest kind to write. How to get across the gist of a story in three or four lines with only four or five very short words? Journalese to the rescue.
My first newspaper job was on a copy desk, the last stop for stories before they went to the composing room. There, the copy would be put through a final edit, cut to fit the desired length for the layout, and dressed with a headline. Our news editor was an old fashioned, almost prissy, man who had a list of banned words, including gutted to describe what a fire had done to a building (the allusion was too unpleasant) and tragedy to describe an accident or mishap or an untimely death.
However, some words were almost impossible to fit into even a five-column headline, and so we were allowed to call the Supreme Court the High 9 and to refer to legislative committees as solons. I had never heard of a solon until I sat on that desk at the age of 22.
One of my favorite memories of that first job was the day that the editor started a competition among the seven or eight copy editors on the desk to see who could come up with the best headline for a story about an upcoming group wedding ceremony that was to take place in Central Park in New York. The Mayor and several judges were offering to perform outdoor weddings on some occasion or other and hundreds of couples were expected to take advantage of the opportunity.
The winner (not by me) was definitely journalese, but we all enjoyed it:
Fun City Fathers to Bucolic Bless
Wordmatic
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
If the word "meltdown" has taken on the meaning "emotional breakdown" then it's certainly not a meaning I had previously heard - nor, indeed, one that is in the Dictionary.com link that Jerry posted.
Richard, read Jerry's link again. That's precisely where I got it, and I cited the source (AHD) for your convenience. Perhaps that definition hasn't reached your side of the pond yet. I certainly could understand that.
Pearce, obviously it is a matter of subjectivity as to whether Hillary had a meltdown or not, I will agree to that. However, it is not black and white. In your opinion, from seeing that short clip, she didn't. I saw the original interview, and I felt she did. This is opinion, and not fact. BTW, it was clear, to me anyway, that this was not a fake meltdown.
I agree with Wordmatic's analysis that some, but not all, newspapers use journalese, and probably my tolerance for it is higher than others'. I like some of those descriptive words, like "rip." Once again...it's a matter of opinion.
I read the link that was entitled Meltdown defined and it defined it as related to nuclear reactors. I didn't read other the two links that led to the specific Nuclear Meltdown and Businessman's Meltdown.
And I have never heard an emotional breakdown called a meltdown before. But then there are many US expression that don't mean the same as UK expressions - and vice versa. of course.
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
There's really no point in arguing about facts, but as a matter of fact, here is a portion of "jerry's link" ...
Severe overheating of a nuclear reactor core, resulting in melting of the core and escape of radiation. Informal A disastrous or rapidly developing situation likened to the melting of a nuclear reactor core: "After several corporate meltdowns, only two reporters remain in [the] bureau" (David Fitzpatrick). Informal An emotional breakdown (emphasis added)
Posts: 6708 | Location: Kehena Beach, Hawaii, U.S.A.
I've heard emotional problems described as "a meltdown" before, quite often actually. I do agree with Richard though that it is journalistic shorthand hyperbole, and with his general point that newspaper headlines will never use moderate language where they have perfectly good ludicrous extremes to fall back on.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
Clinton advisers have expressed optimism about her prospects in the two contests, but the new polls suggest the momentum Obama achieved in his string of victories has turned both into true battlegrounds. Clinton's husband, former president Bill Clinton, said this week that she must win Texas and Ohio to keep her candidacy viable.
Posts: 6708 | Location: Kehena Beach, Hawaii, U.S.A.
meltdown, n. 1. b. orig. U.S. fig. Any uncontrolled and usually disastrous event with far-reaching consequences; a sudden and decisive collapse; (Finance) a rapid drop in the value of a currency, assets, shares, etc.; a crash. Freq. with modifying word.
1983 S. TOLCHIN & M. TOLCHIN Dismantling Amer. vi. 189 (heading) Political meltdown. 1986Washington Post 2 June 3/1 They did this mostly, sources say, out of fear of the alternative{em}a mass fire sale of the EPIC properties. Such a ‘meltdown’, as it was referred to by lawyers on the case, could have had catastrophic repercussions in the nation's mortgage markets. 1988New Yorker 21 Mar. 25/1 Last October's stock-market collapse..was a ‘market meltdown’. A novelist wrote that his central character's fraying nerves had brought about a ‘mental meltdown’. 1990Vanity Fair (N.Y.) Aug. 160/1 If women are alienated, homosexuals have reached the meltdown stage. 1992Financial Times 11 Apr. II. 2/7 Talk of a meltdown in Japan plunging Wall Street into crisis and the US economy back into recession. 1998Entertainm. Weekly (Nexis) 11 Sept. 24 Her..scathingly personal account of the marriage's meltdown, Breakup, scored a six-figure advance from Doubleday.that melts him downe like butter.
melt, v.1
to melt down
1. trans. To liquefy (metal or a metal object) by heat for use as a raw material; to render (fat, etc.); humorously in extended use) to convert (property, etc.) into cash. Also fig.
a1586 SIR P. SIDNEY Astrophel & Stella (1591) 45 When sorrow (vsing my owne Siers might) Melts downe his lead into my boyling brest. 1599 H. PORTER Pleasant Hist. Two Angrie Women of Abington sig. E3v, Her wit's a sunne, that melts him downe like butter. 1633 T. STAFFORD Pacata Hibernia II. iv. 151 Bullion.., meet to bee moulten downe and brought into her Majesties Mint. 1690 T. BURNET Theory of Earth II. III. vi. 46 Clayey Soils..may by the strength of fire be converted into brick, or stone, or earthen metal, and so melted down and vitrified. a1704 T. BROWN Satire French King in Wks. (1707) I. i. 92 Old Jerom's Volumnes next I made a Rape on, And melted down that Father for a Capon. 1709 I. WATTS Horæ Lyricæ (ed. 2) 74 Melt down my Will, and let it flow, And take the Mould Divine. 1721 G. BERKELEY Prevent. Ruin Great Brit. in Wks. (1871) III. 202 A private family in difficult circumstances,..ought to melt down their plate. 1809 A. HENRY Trav. & Adventures Canada 146 The fat of our deer was melted down, and the oil filled six porcupine-skins. 1845 DICKENS Chimes i. 5 But Time had mowed down their sponsors, and Henry the Eighth had melted down their mugs. 1874 J. T. MICKLETHWAITE Mod. Parish Churches 226 How many bronzes have been melted down to make guns. 1915 W. CATHER Song of Lark I. vii. 52 It was pure, soft metal you could have melted right down into dollars. 1966 G. GREENE Comedians I. v. 143, I am melting down some old family silver. 1984 J. A. PHILLIPS Machine Dreams 3 They'd melt down the grease in a big black pot.
2. intr. Of the fuel of a nuclear reactor: to become liquid as a result of uncontrolled heating. Of a reactor: to undergo a catastrophic failure for this reason. 1956Science 24 Aug. 358/1 A small experimental operation of a fast-breeder type reactor ‘melted down’ in Arco, Idaho, last November. 1978Sci. Amer. Nov. 40/2 If the materials for the walls of the reaction chamber were carefully selected..there would be no possibility that the fuel core would melt down. 1986Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) (Nexis) 8 Aug. A23 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission believes that there is a 50 percent probability that an American nuclear plant will melt down in the next 20 years. 1992Economist (Nexis) 8 Feb. 105/2 Because there are only a few grammes of fuel in the reactor at any time, there is no danger that a fusion reactor can melt down.
I read the link that was entitled Meltdown defined and it defined it as related to nuclear reactors. I didn't read other the two links that led to the specific Nuclear Meltdown and Businessman's Meltdown.
The beauty of Dictionary.com, Richard, is that it is a collection of many dictionaries, and it's not just that first definition.
quote:
I've heard emotional problems described as "a meltdown" before, quite often actually. I do agree with Richard though that it is journalistic shorthand hyperbole,
Oh, I've frequently heard, in daily conversations, "meltdown" used in the way the newspaper used it, including in my office when somebody has a bit of a tantrum. That's why I didn't consider it journalese.
BTW, just so you don't think my opinions are politically related, I did vote for Hillary in the Illinois primary quite recently.
The beauty of Dictionary.com, Richard, is that it is a collection of many dictionaries, and it's not just that first definition.
I only looked at the definitions shown on the first page - I didn't follow all the links to the other definitions. Since this particular piece of journalese is apparently common in the USA, then it will certainly appear in some of the more up-to-date dictionaries.
Mind you, I think it's a daft word to use when there are plenty of others that do the job just as well - but, as Bob says, that's newspapers and their sub-editors for you!
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
Glad to hear of your voting history, Kalleh--I'm thinking of doing the same, if she's still around on April 22 when we finally have our primary here in Pennsylvania--though I really do like and admire your junior senator. I'll be one of those older women who goes into the voting booth and makes her decision on the spot.
But I'm agreeing with Pearce about the degree to which Hillary "melted down" in that famous clip. To me, tearing up a little isn't melting down; it's just warming up to 33F. Now I didn't see the whole speech, Kalleh, but I'd say those were mini-tears of exhaustion that didn't even spill over. For me, meltdown in that sense is uncontrollable sobbing, screaming and/or throwing things.
Wordmatic
Posts: 1390 | Location: Near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
I only looked at the definitions shown on the first page - I didn't follow all the links to the other definitions.
Richard, there is no "Dictionary.com" dictionary, per se. It is a collection of well-respected dictionaries, and when you click on it, you just need to scroll down for other definitions. I find that very important to look at other definitions, as otherwise you are always relying on the Random House Dictionary, which has never been one of my favorites.
Funnily, the age situation with Democratic voters is the opposite in my house. While across the U.S. the youth tend to support Obama, the older women tend to support Hillary. I have supported Obama for a year now; I even heard him speak in Chicago. However, my daughter talked me into changing my vote, as she is a Hillary supporter. She made some excellent, rational points, so I changed my mind. However, I don't think she will win, and that's okay because I like Obama, too.
Did you consider Howard Dean's display of emotion in the 2004 primary (in Iowa) to be a "meltdown?" I did. I certainly don't think Hillary's meltdown was related to her gender. I just think she had a meltdown, related to exhaustion and feeling passionate. You'd better believe I want a passionate president.
We'll just agree to disagree on whether Hillary had a meltdown or not. I haven't read anything here that has changed my mind, but then again it's certainly not a big deal.
I have checked again. If you click on that link it takes you to a page with eight definitions from various dictionaries on it, including American Heritage and Wordnet. If you scroll right through them they all give the "nuclear" definition.
I didn't bother to follow any of the other links.
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
If you click on that link it takes you to a page with eight definitions from various dictionaries on it, including American Heritage and Wordnet. If you scroll right through them they all give the "nuclear" definition.
Though I may be beating a dead horse here, either you're wrong or your dictionary.com works differently than mine does. When I scroll beyond the Random House definition (and I always do because I dislike Random House, including with this very definition), the very next group of definitions is from AHD. Number 3 on that list is "an emotional breakdown," and it's listed as "informal." I never click the dictionary.com links either, unless I wish to hear a pronunciation.
While you may have somehow missed it, it is nevertheless, even in England, a common enough metaphor.
I've not seen it - although, as I am one who never bothers to watch soap operas and thus never reads their reviews in the Radio Times, that might explain why the expression has never come to my attention - if that's the kind of writing in which it appears.
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
I think I figured out the dictionary.com problem. Richard, you must consider scrolling down to the other dictionaries to be "linking" to them. To me, a link is something you click, and it takes you to another Web site. Glad that's cleared up!
I did scroll, I didn't click. I didn't spot that definition on the first page.
However, now I check again I see that it is shown as the last entry of just one of the entries (the AHD). Not a very high ranking - although I should have spotted it.
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
It's not high because it's described as informal. Of course it's informal; obviously that's not a central definition of it. Yet, it seems to be used quite a lot here in the U.S. I just heard it on Sunday on NPR, where they were talking about the "meltdown" of sexual offenders as being when they develop depression. Shu just read it in a book he is reading where the person was angry. These are hardly descriptions of major breakdowns.
I saw it on an (American) kid's show as I was flicking through the TV channels the other day. Teenage girl on phone to friend while looking for something to wear: "I'm going into fashion meltdown."
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
English meltdown, Chinese 熔毁 (the melt destroys) English meltdown, French fusion (melt) English meltdown, German Einschmelzen (melt) English meltdown, Italian fusione (melt) English meltdown, Korean 용해 (solution) English meltdown, Portuguese fusão (melt) English meltdown, Russian встряска (the shaking) English meltdown, Spanish fusión (melt)
Posts: 6708 | Location: Kehena Beach, Hawaii, U.S.A.
I believe it's called metaphor. Quite common in languages 'round the world. Maybe not in the UK.
We have plenty of metaphors - but until the "meltdown" metaphor was mentioned here I had never heard it.
But I did here it on the Beeb recently when they were trailing an episode of some soap opera - I rarely pay much attention to these kinds of trailers as I don't watch soaps - but it was used in the sense it's been used in this thread.
There's no way of telling whether it will become common - most new words, or new usages of words, seem to blossom briefly and then die, leaving little trace even of of their evanescence.
Richard English
Posts: 8038 | Location: Partridge Green, West Sussex, UK
My colleague walked into my office first thing this morning and said, "I had a 'meltdown' last night." I had to chuckle a bit, but quickly caught myself so that I didn't look too insensitive. By a meltdown she had meant that she started crying after hearing the news reports of the Northern Illinois University shootings.
I guess I'd not agree. I think "emotional breakdown" is accepted as an "informal" definition of "meltdown" now. I am so surprised that people are arguing about it that I wonder if it might be more of a midwest (U.S.) phenomenon. This is one definition in the OED, which surely doesn't refer to the nuclear meltdown, but which also makes it far more serious than a few tears following some crisis: "orig. U.S. fig. Any uncontrolled and usually disastrous event with far-reaching consequences; a sudden and decisive collapse; (Finance) a rapid drop in the value of a currency, assets, shares, etc.; a crash. Freq. with modifying word." Yet one example in the OED definition is this: "11 Sept. 24 Her..scathingly personal account of the marriage's meltdown, Breakup, scored a six-figure advance from Doubleday."
I don't see it as a metaphor. I see it as a definition that has evolved.
If it's not a metaphor, what is it? Clichés are just metaphors which become so popular that they cross that thin dividing line over into unpopularity. A person is not a nuclear reactor, and an emotional breakdown does not release radioactive contaminants in the environment. I see it no different than calling somebody a fox or a cow.
It is, as the OED so succinctly puts it, "...orig. U.S. fig..."