AMunn - 17 July 2008 08:54 PM

We expect fishermen and other Joe Six-Packs to say “bullshit.” To use their profanity only affirms stereotypes about the crudeness of the everyday man/woman. This is why we shouldn’t use their “bullshit.”

However, we don’t expect McCain to say “bullshit.” We expect him to maintain an air of authority. When officials swear, it’s news, because it shows they’ve lost control of the situation.

Guys—good point above. Affirming the stereotype of the fisherman/ truck driver/ blue-collar Joe Blow.... Joe Six Pack who uses bullshit in his everyday speech… just makes him sound like Joe Sixpack, so why irritate readers with that common vulgarism??? Yet, McCain, Bush, Hillary, the mayor, whoever, if they go off on someone, then THAT FACT of their (As Astrid says) “losing control” becomes news. Not the word. Not the bullshit. the Loss of decorum.

Agree? Disagree? This is a free-for-all ...not that much time left… let’s use it!!!

Color, color, color. I get so many cliche quotes that I practically know the answer I’m going to get even as I pose the question during an interview. A good quote to me, besides doing what everyone else has elaborated here (enlighten, advance the story, etc.) is interesting and dynamic; colorful.

Two weeks ago I was sent - as per my duties as sports desk slave (intern) - to report on a weeklong roller hockey tournament here. When I say roller hockey, I don’t mean those sleek inline blades some of us used in middle school, I’m talking about those Roll Bounce-type skates with four plastic casters on the bottom of each. Roller hockey is played on these goofy looking skates by men my father’s age, slipping and crashing into walls. It would be the funniest looking sport next to Curling if they didn’t take it so seriously. Anyway, the event organizer is this guy who has got to be the most talented liar I’ve ever met. Every quote he gives me has at least one thing false in it, many just outright lies. But he believes all of them, which makes for a very tragic situation, especially when he thinks this event brings in $2 million (his quote) to the local economy and not a single fan - not ONE - was at the Auditorium on the final day.

So when I interviewed him at the end of the tournament, he said the tournament - like the last one in 2002 - was going to put him in the hole upwards of $17,000. He was very frustrated and angry. Some of the things he said, some of which I reported, really opened the window into this guy’s soul.

“I’m not going through that this time,” tournament director Bill Schmelcher said. “I’m not putting a family of seven through the financial hardship of something that the entire community benefited from.”

I thought it was very sad if you read between the lines, especially after reading that so few fans actually attended the event higher in the story.

I agree with what everyone has said, and I like to use quotes when it gives a story color, and particularly when it shows a unique perspective about the story from the person talking.  Here’s one that comes to mind:

“Everyone just rants and raves about our natural terrain,” Stuart said. “The majority of (cross-country courses) are pretty flat, so to run on these big horse moguls, the horses absolutely love it. They come off these courses looking like game busters.”

i agree with many of the above comments. my biggest pet peeve is when a reporter feels they need to lead in to a quote with the exact same details that will appear in the quote.

John Doe said life on the farm is boring.
“Life here is so uninteresting and dull,” he said.

It’s like, just because you changed the words, they still mean the same thing, and it is still repetitive.

also, i have really tried to heed the advice i got from one of my college professors that quotes should be small gems in a story and should be used very rarely. i will admit, my stories are still quite quote-heavy. that is something i need to work on.
but it is so important to try whenever possible to paraphrase most of what is said. and save direct quotes when someone is extremely emotional, controversial or if it is just a damn good quote.

one of my favorites recently was from a feature i did on a 15 year old kid with heart problems. baseball is the only sport he can play but he still remains active. i used this quote to end the story:

“I try to make the best out of life, even though I have a bad ticker.”

I mean, come on. that short quote tells you everything you need to know about how amazing this kid is. he has been dealt a bad deck of cards but he can still laugh about it and just go on.