Is there a phrase in journalism more plainly indicative of laziness and a lack of familiarity with basic facts than “in recent memory”? I’ve used it, certainly, and have felt like a huge loser every time. “I want to put this thing in historical context, and have a vague sense, based on I don’t know what, that it is a very unusual thing. Sorry but I’m not going to be looking up any dates or doing anything that would render useful this mangled impression of information.”
“In recent memory” is pretty bad. “At times” is worse. I used to write reviews for an online music magazine called Splendid where writers were explicitly forbidden from using the phrase “at times” to describe a band or an album. The ban was in the writer’s guidelines, next to details about wordcounts and deadlines, and remains to this day some of the best writing advice I’ve ever received.
