Phrases To Be Stricken

I was reading the Times a moment ago. It’s another story about the Harvard student/author, Kaavya Viswanathan and what looks like plagiarism… again.

But enough about Kaavya. The most interesting part of the article is buried toward the end. The Times tried to get in touch with her agent.

Ms. Viswanathan’s agent, Jennifer Rudolph Walsh of the William Morris Agency, was traveling and could not be reached.

Right.

Call me crazy, but in the year 2006 we need to replace that excuse. Agents are available (though not to their own clients) for a living. And, it’s tough to believe any William Morris agent is Blackberry-less… ever.

OK – it’s possible. Still, in my mind, this has been filed in the fiction section.

As long as I’m at it, aren’t there other phrases that need to disappear?

We all know what “left to pursue other opportunities,” or “spend more time with his family” mean – you’ve been fired. Saying either of these doesn’t hide what happened. They just make you look like a wuss for trying to hide it.