On the Menu

Doomed	Urges	Irks
Hits	Killings	Undercut
Slams	Tripped	Penalty
Claw Back	Cast Doubt	Squeeze
Pockets of Strength	War	Freezes Out
Plays Up	Cookie Crumbles	Nears Exit
Investigates	Mayhem	Tear Down
Get ‘Haircuts’	Ban	Arms for Battle
Pushed	Tax Cliff	Tune Out
Relieves	Tie Hands	Bulks Up to Fight
Calls Back	Go After	Extreme Regret

Herewith words and phrases surgically removed, chopped, cut, or squeezed out of today’s headlines in the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ, here, of course, is just a random sample and not in any way different from the media taken as a whole. The writing in the Journal is good. Most stories tell you the essence in a lead sentence. Admirable. The picture of the world that emerges is that of giant monsters with pea-sized brains doing battles to the death in a world that is nothing but conflict. That’s Progress. The Journal also captured my two reactions: Tune Out and Extreme Regret.