Journos Are Alienating Readers With 'Retro' References

By: Ralph Keyes (Commentary) Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is often compared to Eddie Haskell. This is fine if you realize that Haskell was the know-it-all neighbor of Beaver Cleaver on "Leave it to Beaver."

Those who grew up watching that show might also get the recent Los Angeles Times reference to the ?Cleaverization? of Michelle Obama, or Rachel Maddow?s characterization of herself as ?a bit of a Wally Cleaver.? Members of an even earlier generation may even know what one auto industry analyst meant when she commented about the scrutiny of GM's books: "This is green-eyeshade stuff." (Such eyeshades were once worn by accountants to protect their eyes from glaring overhead light bulbs.)

This is retrotalk: employing terminology rooted in our past that may not be familiar to younger readers. Or immigrants. Or anyone at all, for that matter.

Journalists who lace their copy with such retro terms or names risk alienating those who are too young to get the allusions. Even common catch phrases that hearken back to earlier times may be puzzling to younger readers: stuck in a groove, 98-pound weakling, drop a dime, bigger than a breadbox, or a tough row to hoe. (As one giggling third-grader asked when his teacher used this one, ?Isn?t 'ho' a bad word??)

When a Minneapolis Star Tribune article included the line, ?And by the way, have you stopped beating your wife?? many readers wondered why the paper would pose such an off-the-wall question.

Making sense of the many verbal fossils in our lexicon requires familiarity with events that left behind a linguistic residue. We don?t all have that familiarity. As The Miami Herald?s Leonard Pitts once discovered, ?Everyone knows that? can be a risky assumption. Pitts? editor, who grew up in a home without television, challenged his reference to Mayberry in a column. Wouldn?t readers wonder, ?Where?s that?? she asked about the iconic small-town setting of "The Andy Griffith Show."

Retrotalk is ubiquitous among journalists of a certain age. By using it they set themselves apart from those born in the last three or four decades. On "Meet the Press," New York Times columnist David Brooks said about Hillary Clinton, ?In the first debate she?s Emily Post, now she?s Howard Beale,? referring to the late etiquette maven and the angry protagonist of the 1976 movie "Network." In a recent column Brooks wrote, ?And not to get Rod McKuen on you or anything ?? Say what? Inquiring younger minds want to know.

Last year, Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel called a press conference amid speculation that he would announce his intention to run for president, then said only that he was reviewing his options. Washington Post writer Dana Milbank called Hagel?s event ?the political equivalent of Geraldo opening Al Capone?s vault,? alluding to Geraldo Rivera?s 1986 discovery on live television that this vault was empty. Post columnist Eugene Robinson later said on "Meet the Press" that if Hillary Clinton were to not only speak at a black church but eat there as well, ?it could be a kind of reverse 'Guess Who?s Coming to Dinner?'? (referencing the 1967 movie).

Falling back on retro-references this way can give press coverage the flavor of a private conversation among those born before 1960. The implicit message to younger readers seems to be: Hey, if you don?t know what we?re talking about, maybe you should butt out. Haven?t you got some twittering to do?

In a profile, media writer Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post called NBC analyst Chuck Todd ?the Jimmy the Greek of politics,? referring to the once-prominent gambler and sports commentator who died in 1996. When a New York Times feature noted the ?Joe Friday manner? of U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, one that conveyed a ?just-the-facts appeal,? the implicit assumption was that every reader got these allusions to the old radio and TV show "Dragnet."

The Times is a citadel of retrotalk, on its Op-Ed page especially. Columnist Frank Rich once commented that George W. Bush had ?a slight, almost Chauncey Gardiner quality,? referring to Peter Sellers? simple-minded character in the 1979 movie "Being There."

The Queen of Retrotalk is Times columnist Maureen Dowd. Dozens of examples I?ve harvested from her columns include ?Nosey Parker,? ?Ma Barker,? ?Norma Desmond,? ?Palin?s Imelda Marcos moment? and ?Hillary?s inner Eve Harrington.? To describe how it felt to drive through Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and see no women on the streets, Dowd invoked a ?Rod Serling?type feeling.?

Perhaps such news coverage should include a warning label: ?If you?re under 40, certain references may need to be Googled.? Better yet, each such story could include a glossary of retroterms at the end, for the benefit of younger readers.