Comment

Three whinges about writing style: Our obsession with 'listicles' trivialises information

By Richard Mulgan
Updated April 24 2018 - 8:43pm, first published November 28 2015 - 5:05pm

The last Informant of the year offers a chance for something different; a whinge about some irritating stylistic fads. Particularly annoying is the practice of counting the points to be made in a presentation or article and then proclaiming the number in the title. It is rampant among management gurus: "Five ways to improve your chances of promotion", "Seven pitfalls to avoid in dealing with your PA", etc. But it is increasingly finding its way into mainstream journalism: "Four problems for Turnbull to solve on the way to tax reform", "Three lessons from the Wallabies' defeat", etc.

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