"Hey Susie! What are you doing Saturday night?"
"Watching Love Boat again. I love that Gopher!"
"You should come to the dance at the Rec Center and help raise money for the homeless!"
I call the above a "dialogue lead." They were the scourge of my high school newspaper. I banned them from the pages I controlled, and for that I was despised by the lazy preliterates who relied upon them.
Well, not just for that.
I just realized that the modern-day equivalent is the alleged professional alleged journalist who quotes random twits on social media—as opposed to doing any sort of legwork like, say, interviews or dialing a phone number.
This is from a random CNN story.
The offer of a free night wasn't the most popular move among some of the posters on The Mansion's Facebook page."Tom Brady, a free night? Why? He's an insulting, pompous (fill in the blank)," wrote Kathy Dembek-Licata.
The Mansion said on its Facebook page that it's "having a bit of fun" with the incident, using it to promote the Buffalo area. "Tom Brady is an exceptional athlete and, much like the Patriots, The Mansion also strives for excellence!"
That's scintillating stuff that I certainly couldn't find myself. Quoting bathroom walls would be better journalism.