Hulking leviathans that fly!

Hulking. One of our favorite journalese adjectives. Usually applied to parking garages or other buildings the reporter doesn’t like. But here’s a brand new application: A Bloomberg News story, published in the Boston Globe, July 3, 2020, starts: “Boeing Co. hasn’t told employees, but the company is pulling the plug on its hulking 747 jumbo jet, ending a half-century run for the twin-aisle pioneer.”

The 747 is not only hulking, Bloomberg turns into a Biblical sea monster. “It’s a moment that aviation enthusiasts have long dreaded, signaling the end of the double-decked, four-engine leviathans that shrank the world.”

So we’ve been flying in a hulking leviathan for 50 years, and we always thought it was just a large, roomy airplane, with a terrific upper deck.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2020/07/02/boeing-quietly-pulls-plug-closing-era-jumbo-jets/LiHVTfMY94qweQ1ST9yiuN/story.html