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Legislative Preview '08
listen:
  As this year’s legislative session gets under way, we’ll talk to a panel of state house reporters about what’s on the docket this year, including the return of the income tax, school funding, and a big battle over reforms in the state employee pension system. Guests
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(I'm probably the only one who has noticed these things, but it's just the way my mind works.)
As always Ms. Knoy begins this episode with a "just give us a sense" question, to be followed by many more attempted sense acquisitions during the show.
Will someone please explain to me why she and so many other NPR hosts over-use this construction with such maddening frequency? Is it on purpose or just a bad habit? I asked politely by email but no one replied. I really am genuinely curious about whether they are aware of it and actually choose to do it for some reason.
A friend whom I've joked about this with was recently interviewed about his job on Vermont Public Radio's noon talk show and the very first question he was asked started with "give us a sense of." He almost burst out laughing live on the air. Imagine if people talked like this in day to day life? "Hey, Mom, give us a sense of what we're having for dinner!" "Excuse me, Sir, do you have a sense of what time it is?" "Son, is there a sense here that you've finished your homework?"
And while we're on the subject of NPR hosts' verbal tics, not every statement has to begin with "Well and..." though I know it makes a convenient subject changer.