UKC

'Lost in sea of rock.'

Saw this in caption for image of Alex Honnold. Is this really the best description?

Most annoying climbing clichés please.

In reply to Motown:

One of the news reports on the Dawn Wall attempt described the face as 'as smooth as a sheet of marble'
So that would be a piece of rock as smooth as a piece of rock then.

In reply to Motown:

If this thread comes up with a list of 10 crackers I promise to get them all in to a single news piece in the next couple of weeks!

J

In reply to Jack Geldard - Consulting Editor: then we can all play climbing cliché bingo

In reply to Motown:

Climber magazine seem to refer to literally every european destination as a "mecca of sport climbing" which I find irritating, especially when it occurs multiple times per issue...

In reply to Motown:

"Splitter cracks" and "bullet hard stone".

Yeuk,

Chris

In reply to Motown:
'Send'. Makes my bloody blood boil ... That word's for parcels, emails and stuff surely?
Grrrrr. If those people who update the Oxford Dictionary include it in climbing parlance the sh*t'll really hit the fan .. here anyway!

In reply to Motown:

"Steep overhang" always puzzles me a bit.....

Not to mention "blank wall", "smooth slab" and "soaring arête"!

Edit, oh yes, and "open corner", grrrrr, I'd like to see a closed one ha-ha

In reply to Motown:

Check out EpicTV and fill your boots!!

Only joking, but stuff like climber XYZ has been in destination ABC and has been "pulling down some sick sends"......I know I'm a grumpy old git, but really?

However in the interest of balance, that Alex Honnold Fair Head soloing footage is worth a look on there.

In reply to Jack Geldard - Consulting Editor:


Make sure to include 'throwing shapes' won't you, Jack.

In reply to Motown:

+1 for 'Sick sends'. Just sounds like 'Six ends' to me.

'Inspiring line' gets my goat too.

In reply to Motown:

"Hanging on by his/her fingertips"

In reply to AP Melbourne:
'Send' is, admittedly, pretty silly, but that seems more about changes in language, rather than lazy use.

In reply to Motown:

According to the EU directive 01/04/nn (Climbing Articles, revised standards) mountain ridges may only be described as 'knife edged' and anybody obviously showboating for the camera must be described as 'clinging by their fingertips'.

In reply to abseil:


What's puzzling about that?

In reply to Pete Dangerous:


To me overhangs are always steep....

In reply to abseil:

Ok. They're not though

In reply to Motown:




It's all there.........

In reply to Motown:

Pointy summits anywhere being nicknamed the "Cambridgeshire Matterhorn" (just to pick a random area).

CB

In reply to AP Melbourne:

I'm looking forward to 'sending' your book soon

In reply to Motown:

All accidents involving a canopy of any sort, or indeed any fall, will involve the word 'plummet/plummeting/plummeted'. Worse still, it is usually used conjunction with 'horrified onlookers'.

I'd imagine most 'onlookers' are oblivious to skydiving deaths as it is hard to see a small dot in the distance. Attention would be focused on those whose canopy does open.

In reply to Motown:

Like a human fly - presumably not referring to eating habits.

In reply to Motown:

'Wild exposure'. Never been quite sure why that's more remarkable than 20 feet to boulders.

Dynos are also wild, but lunges are desperate. Falls are sickening, but also sometimes swooping - but these may end in a bone-crunching impact. Belays are bomber, except in Scotland when they are shocking or non-existent. Crucial runners are important and they may also be bomber or even vital.

In reply to Motown:

"Climb with interest"
I think this means high in the grade but who knows?

In reply to Mike-W-99:

"thought provoking"
the thoughts usually being of your own mortality

In reply to Motown:

Any guidebook or destination article that promises 'all grades from Mod to E9' without pointing out, more usefully, that the bulk of the good climbing is at either HD or E3-E4.

Any shoe which is described as 'ideal for all types of climbing'.

Anywhere which is a city/ land/ country/ crag of contrasts.

In reply to Motown:

"Stuck to the rock like snot on a toilet door"

"Challenging the rock to a deadly game of rock, paper scissors. Only instead of paper and scissors, there's more rock!"

""Bear Grills has nothing on this guy" (sorry)

In reply to Mike-W-99:

'Sustained interest' is a good variant cliche on this.

In reply to sensibleken:


'.......like shit to a blanket', surely?

In reply to Motown:

It's showing my age, but in Walter Poucher's guidebooks all granite faces seemed to be "Cyclopean walls".

In reply to Motown:

Anyone that describes rock as 'living' needs to be taken round the back of the building and disposed of humanely.

I have a particular fondness for some terms; when a Cornish guidebook used to describe something as 'steep', you knew that overhanging terrors awaited you. Such elegant understatements can easily become irritating, and then cliched, if over-used though.

T.

In reply to Pursued by a bear:

I also enjoy guidebook terms like 'thought provoking,' climb 'with interest' etc.

I don't see these as clichés in the same way as 'lost in a sea of rock' because these seem like set phrases which, although they are full of understatement, have come to mean something specific. Also, they represent the enjoyable dark humour found in the best guidebooks.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=206599&v=1#x3021192

'Lost in a sea of...', 'mecca for sport climbing,' 'living rock', 'like a human fly,' are the clichés for me because they detract from the images/places/actions they describe.

And after reading through this thread, if I ever read 'like a human fly' I will always imagine said climber licking faeces from their legs.

In reply to Motown:

No, they only become clichés if over-used; otherwise, such elegant understatement remains a source of wry humour, a guidebook tradition that makes reading some descriptions such a joy.

T.

Same for any photo which describes the climber as 'cruising' of which there are bloody loads on here.
I wish more would say 'climber struggling' 'climbing really badly' to redress the balance.

In reply to Chris Craggs:

Trouser filling moves?

In reply to Motown:

In the alpine

In reply to Bob Aitken:

.....and anything with a dusting of sneachda was in "Winter raimnent".

In reply to Motown:
Stoked!

In reply to Dandan:

As a baby's bottom!