Spoiler Alert: Phrase Is Overused

A graph from the “Chronicle” tool - created by my colleague Alexis Lloyd to track use of words and phrases in The Times - shows the history of the phrase “spoiler alert.”

This colloquial, even cutesy, phrase became popular some years back in online discussions of movies, books and TV, as a courtesy to alert a reader if a plot twist was about to be revealed. But as the graph suggests, we've become infatuated with it in the last few years, and we're on track for a record this year. The expression has spread far beyond its original purpose, and now often seems like an all-purpose plea for attention: Hey! I'm about to tell you something interesting! In most cases it does nothing to actually alert the reader, since the “spoiler” is often the very next phrase.

Let's raise the bar for this overused quirk. A few recent examples we could probably have done without:

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If a kitchen represents a temperate forest, few of its plants would be poison ivy. Most of the inhabitants are relatively benign. In any event, eradicating them is neither possible nor desirable. Dr. Fierer wants to make visible this intrinsic, if unseen, aspect of everyday life. “For a lot of the general public, they don't care what's in soil,” he said. “People care more about what's on their pillowcase.” (Spoiler alert: The microbes living on your pillowcase are not all that different from those living on your toilet seat. Both surfaces come in regular contact with exposed skin.)

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With the season finale of “Parks and Rec” suggesting that his character may about to become - spoiler alert! - a father, Margy Rochlin met with Mr. Offerman to find out about his one-man stage show; what advice Frank might give Ron about parenthood; and what's on the menu at a Ron Swanson-themed tailgate party.

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While some people may question why the Army is getting into a genre like program-length commercials, “We approach it in such a way that would belie any such negativity,” Ms. Nocella said, by “pulling the curtain back on the recruiting process” and depicting “the truth of what it means to be a soldier.”

The Army “may not be for everybody,” she added, “and everybody is not for the Army.”

Spoiler alert. Of the 10 civilians who appear in “Starting Strong,” initially “two decided to join the Army and a third decided to join the Army Reserves,” Mr. Davis said, adding that subsequently the number reached “seven or eight.”

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While the museum will not confirm who will attend until Monday night, things do tend to leak. As usual, the star power will be overwhelming, and while things can always change, those rumored to be coming (spoiler alert!) include Jennifer Lopez with Michael Kors, Gwyneth Paltrow with Valentino, and Jennifer Lawrence and Marion Cotillard with Dior. Alexander Wang is said to be working on a custom Balenciaga look for Julianne Moore.

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So I ignored Kevin's texts and calls, patiently waiting for him to realize we really were supposed to be together. When I was back home for New Year's I made sure every status advertised my whereabouts for the night. How else was he going to burst in at midnight to tell me he couldn't live without me? Spoiler alert: he didn't.

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Zicasso, an online luxury travel service, is offering an eight-day journey starting at $3,250 per person (excluding airfare) that visits Highclere Castle in Newbury, England, home to a real earl and countess that doubles as the Downton estate in the show, as well as other filming locations in Oxfordshire, and a country home in Staffordshire. You can also channel (spoiler alert!) poor Matthew Crawley's last days by adding on an excursion to Inveraray Castle in the Scottish Highlands, a place that Season 3 viewers know as Duneagle.

 
In a Word

This week's grab bag of grammar, style and other missteps, compiled with help from colleagues and readers.

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Mr. Griffin argued MSNBC's coverage of the Boston bombings matched any other channel's, though he acknowledged that the network had access to Mr. Williams, one of the stars of the Boston coverage, only when he wasn't on NBC.

This would be smoother and read less like journalese with “that” after “argued.”

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At the time, experts believed that a married woman should work only to kill time while searching for a husband or to fill time after the children had left home.

A confusing sentence; clearly the first situation applies to an “unmarried woman.”

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But large amounts of foreign alcohol is smuggled in, and many Iranians drink a kind of homemade vodka known as arak sagi, or dog sweat.

Agreement problem. Make it “large amounts - are smuggled in” or “a large amount … is smuggled in.”

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Ms. Tutterow said she was not taken aback by the amount of negative reactions or their tone, but, “We're a bit surprised it's turned into a story.”

Number, not amount, with the plural “reactions.”

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But Aaron Goldman, a former accountant and sales manager in a blue baseball cap, jumped to his feet and banged on the table as plastic wear bounced.

We meant “ware,” not “wear” (later fixed online), and the compound should probably be one word, like silverware.

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Us joke-makers both professional and nonprofessional need to be adept at temperature-gauging, and to be quick to put the “more” in “remorse.”

Even with the light tone of this piece, we needed “we joke-makers” as the subject.

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The Chinese government has insisted it is a victim of cyberattacks, not a perpetrator, and Chinese officials have vigorously denied the extensive evidence gathered by the Pentagon and private security experts that a unit of the People's Liberation Army, Unit 61398 outside Shanghai, is behind many of the most sophisticated attacks on the United States.

An awkward phrase. They deny the allegation, or they dispute or reject the evidence.

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The risks became apparent on Sunday when relatives confirmed that Mr. Samaras, 55, along with his 24-year-old son, Paul, and his colleague, Carl Young, 45, were killed while chasing the storms that ravaged parts of Oklahoma on Friday.

Agreement problem. Make it “Mr. Samaras … was killed.” The prepositional phrase beginning “along with” does not make the subject plural.

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The setting was not a dark city street but a 9,000-square-foot estate in a green, historic Connecticut town whose residents have included Eugene O'Neill, Judy Collins and Henry Luce.

Presumably we meant that the house - not the entire estate - was 9,000 square feet, which is less than a quarter of an acre.

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Tomic said he had not decided whom that person would be, but that perhaps it would come before the grass-court season begins in the run-up to Wimbledon.

Make it “who,” not “whom.”

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GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. - In the middle of the enduring conflict between liberty and public welfare stands Joyce Osborn Wilson and her teeth-whitening business.

Make the verb plural to agree with the compound subject (“stand Joyce Osborn and her teeth-whitening business”), or rephrase.

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But really, neither the Radwanskas, who are much younger, nor Serena, who might be playing the best tennis of her career at age 31, are in Venus's position.

In a neither/nor construction, the verb must agree with the nearer part of the subject, in this case the singular Serena. Better still, rephrase.

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But neither Rutgers nor Parker were aware of the existence of a two-page letter that her players wrote in 1997, saying she abused them and forced them to “endure mental cruelty.”

Another agreement problem. Make it “neither Rutgers nor Parker was aware.”

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“I fully anticipate the mainstream liberal media to put a detrimental spin on my decision not to seek a fifth term,” she said in a gauzy network-television quality video posted on her campaign Web site.

We needed two hyphens to hold the modifier together: “network-television-quality.” Or simply “network-quality.”

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Already, the mulish behavior of Congressional Republicans has led to the creation of the sequester, blocked action on economic growth and climate change, prevented reasonable checks on gun purchases and threatens to blow up a hard-fought compromise on immigration.

Not parallel. The “has” is understood with the subsequent verbs, but it doesn't work with “threatens.” Rephrase.

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Accusations about Ms. Hermann's behavior at Louisville and Tennessee, including reportedly abusive conduct toward players on a volleyball team she coached, dominated the college sports world, plunging her and Rutgers into a controversy for the second time in as many months. …

Others said that it felt like Ms. Hermann had been fast-tracked ahead of other candidates.

In the second sentence, don't use “like” as a conjunction; make it “it felt as if …”

In the first passage, note the admonition in The Times's stylebook:

as many. Avoid this mannerism: twice in as many days; third in as many days. The wording is untidy because the phrase as many requires a cardinal number for completion (as many as two; as many as three). Make it twice in two days and third in three days. With a cardinal number (five times in as many days), the phrase is more grammatical, but still journalese.

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While trying to stand up, the agent, who suffered a wound to his face from the table that required stitches, drew his gun and saw Mr. Todashev running at him with a metal pole, according to the official, adding that it might have been a broomstick.

We should have started over with this awkward and confusing sentence.

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Who says pizza delivery is just for dorm rooms and children's birthday parties?

This lead is odd. Plenty of grownups, including most of our readers, order pizza for delivery occasionally. Rather than start with a question premise that seems off-kilter, perhaps we should have focused on the trend in question: delivered pizza as the main course at otherwise fancy public events.

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City officials say that the carousel's operator may not take “creative liberties” with any future renovation work, but instead must follow the painting pattern that has already been proscribed.

“Proscribed” means forbidden or denounced; we wanted “prescribed.”

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This is behavior not becoming of a congresswoman.

This construction with “becoming” - or, more commonly, “unbecoming” - doesn't take “of.” For example: “conduct unbecoming an officer.”

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While the bacteria, which causes fruit to turn bitter and drop from the trees when still unripe, affects all citrus fruits, it has been most devastating to oranges, the largest crop.

“Bacteria” is plural.

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On a sunny Wednesday, with a faint haze hanging over the Rockies, Noah Fierer eyed the field site from the back of his colleague's Ford Explorer.

The verb “eyed” has a tabloid flavor and is oddly vague. Did he carefully observe, survey, gaze at, study?

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Consumer spending has also been strikingly resilient so far this year, given the tax hikes.

The stylebook says, “Do not use hike as a synonym for increase, whether noun or verb.”

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Ms. Francis's show, originally broadcast from Sardi's, the theater district restaurant, became known for the wide range of guests Ms. Bach booked, including Ellington, Leopold Stokowski and Carl Sandburg.

Following two sibilant sounds, we didn't want another S after the apostrophe here. From the stylebook:

possessives. Ordinarily form a possessive by adding ‘s to a singular noun (the boy's boots; the girl's coat), even if the noun already ends in an s (The Times's article). If the word ends in two sibilant sounds (ch, j, s, sh, x or z) separated only by a vowel sound, drop the s after the apostrophe (Kansas' climate; Texas' population). But keep the s after the apostrophe when a name ends in a silent sibilant letter (Arkansas's; Malraux's).

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But the Obama-Christie bromance is about so much more than that.

This recent slang is already looking awfully tired.