Tony Kronheiser :: essays research papers

Tony KronheiserTony Kornheiser is the self-admitted opinionated, sarcastic sports and style editorialist for The Washington stead. Kornheisers purpose is not to report to thereader an objective nib of a sporting blusht, however rather to contribute humor totopics that depart in topic from the Washington Redskins ("Its Now an Off-RoadVehicle," November 5, 1996) to his lunch-time set out the other day ("In aReal Fix," November 3, 1996). Kornheisers diction, poetic language, andtone make his columns what they are. Often, diction, figurative language, andtone are not common in the journalistic world, but Kornheisers humor finds roomfor them.Tony Kornheisers sarcasm is almost entirely related to his diction. Hecontains the skills to take something as insignifi drive outt as a restaurant changingon him unexpectedly and reports about it so that the common firearm can relate. Heis The Washington Posts Jerry Seinfeld. He blends the slang of the street manwith the po etic verbs and fluid adjectives of an English teacher. For example,in "In A Real Fixe," Kornheiser says, "George was line of descent to suspect that wehad entered (doo-doo, doo-doo). . . The Nouvelle Dining geographical zone." Most people whohave watched the Twilight Zone before can relate this statement as a credit entryto the famous TV show, so Kornheisers slang was effective in grabbing thereader, even if a large majority of them have no idea what the account book "nouvelle"means. Kornheiser uses an array of much(prenominal) adjectives throughout his pieces but hedoes not defecate to be above his readers. He fills his work with colloquialspeech such as his references in "Its Now an Off-Road Vehicle" to otherWashington Post columnists such as Michael Wilbon, and to his "RedskinsBandwagon." (The Redskins Bandwagon was a common phrase used by WashingtonRedskins fans when the team won the Superbowl in 1991). Kornheiser assumes thatthe rea der is familiar with him, and that is set down in his informal diction thatis used with the reader. It is almost to the point of a friendship, as though acoworker was letting off his steam at work during a lunch break.Kornheisers figurative speech also add to his style quite well. Theblend of diction and figurative speech is intelligibly as Kornheiser uses several localallusions in his metaphors and similes that add to his "common man" image. Forexample, in "In a Real Fixe," Kornheiser compares the look of a hostess panorama toone of a nurse at St. Elizabeths, a local mental hospital. In that samearticle he also compares his whole experience to "going down into the Metro and