Journalese of the Day: Grizzled

All fishermen, hunters, farmers or other outdoor workers older than the reporter’s father are grizzled, even if they are completely bald, dark haired or wearing hats which conceal the grey needed to be accurately called grizzled. A journalese law prohibits reporters from identifying grey-haired women as grizzled. Wall Street geezers, politicians, and retired reporters telling war stories at the National Press Club bar are also exempt from being called grizzled, even if they are.

Here’s an illustration in a fascinating story, in the Boston Sunday Globe, Aug. 7, 2016, about the return of cod off Newfoundland: “The 70-year-old captain, like most other fishermen still working here, is old enough to remember better times. On a recent morning, as he eased up on the throttle and the Motion Bay came to a stop, he signaled to four grizzled men at the stern to cast their lines. Each lowered several specially designed hooks into the dark bay, unspooling their nylon lines by hand, like generations of Newfoundland fishermen before them.”

-Robert Skole