Grilling

A favorite journalese verb is “to grill” when it doesn’t mean slapping a steak on a grill in the back yard, but meaning tough questioning, usually by police or prosecutors. (Reporters, however, never grill anyone. They ask hard, in-depth questions in an interview.)

A real groaner of the standard grilling usage was in this Boston Herald headline, June 19, 2017: “Top Chef star on menu for grilling in Teamsters trial.”

The story is about the trial of two Boston City Hall employees accused of demanding producers of the TV show to hire Teamster union workers in order to get city permits.

File under: Politicians like their grilling rare.

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Contact: BobSkole@aol.com