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Learn Profilese!
By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 28, 2003
Modified Mar 6, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Feb 28, 2003
Modified Mar 6, 2008
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There are many reasons to love Fametracker, but the Mediator is one very important one. Fametracker takes a celebrity magazine and dissects it, fully understanding that there are methods to the madness of the celebrity magazine and analyzes it. The sad truth is that celebrity magazines blow but it makes for great Mediator features. This month, Mediator looks at GQ. At taste:
The article, on the other hand, is, like all the profiles in this issue (George Hamilton, Michael Caine, David Arquette, DMX) written in a sort of gibberish. Yes, it's English, but it's a subset of the language you could call "Profilese." It involves writing sentences that sound good or, failing that, remind you of sentences you've read elsewhere that sounded good. It involves stringing the sentences together with a pleasing rhythm that's just distracting enough to fill the three hours or so that it takes to fly from Chicago to Phoenix, but that will leave you with no impression whatsoever. Because these sentences are meaningless, by many different definitions.
One of the tactics of Profilese on display in the Garner profile is the one by which you cram your articles with references, both high and low, to prove to the reader that you are not just a profile-churning-out hack, but rather you are well-versed in kitsch and the classics alike. You are Übermensch!
Heh. Laugh at the GQ Awards. Read about GQ Editor Art Cooper "resigning."
Tagged
art
celebrity
chicago
comedy
david
David Arquette
George Hamilton
love
magazines
media
michael caine
phoenix
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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