Um... "sweep" means you win them all. When you find yourself writing, "the only category in which the iPhone did not win" then you need to stop right there and change the headline. That's not a sweep.
Exactly. The headline is an indication of sensationalized journalism.
As was pointed out before there is sweep='large majority of' and clean sweep=all.
That was asserted... but was false.
The generally accepted meaning of "sweep" is all. It only means majority when referring to things that are decided by never unanimous percentages, like elections. At least that is the connotation in America. I'm not sure about how the phrase is used in other English speaking nations.
I use English English, with a sprinkling of convict and sheep, where making a clean sweep means winning overwhelmingly.
Which seems to be the case in this instance.
In a few months I will be able to paste a link to confirm this, perhaps some emoji will make up for it:-
Quote:
Originally Posted by dfiler
That was asserted... but was false.
The generally accepted meaning of "sweep" is all. It only means majority when referring to things that are decided by never unanimous percentages, like elections. At least that is the connotation in America. I'm not sure about how the phrase is used in other English speaking nations.
So it seems the usage might be acceptable in Britain but not in America.
With this in mind, it would be better to not use the colloquialism since it conveys a sensationalized portrayal of events to the majority of this web site's readers.
Admittedly this sets the journalism bar pretty high. But it is critical feedback such as this that motivates journalists to perfect their craft. Well, that and probably enraging them slightly at the same time.
The generally accepted meaning of "sweep" is all. It only means majority when referring to things that are decided by never unanimous percentages, like elections. At least that is the connotation in America. I'm not sure about how the phrase is used in other English speaking nations.
Generally accepted doesn't apply to all definitions of all words. It, as you point out, only applies to what is generally accepted. Another term would colloquial speak. If you look in any reasonable dictionary you'll find that the definition for sweep and clean sweep clearly describe what has been discussed on this thread.
So it seems the usage might be acceptable in Britain but not in America.
Nope, it's American English, too. Check any reasonable dictionary, including the New Oxford American Dictionary that ships with with every copy of Mac OS X.
Comments
Um... "sweep" means you win them all. When you find yourself writing, "the only category in which the iPhone did not win" then you need to stop right there and change the headline. That's not a sweep.
Exactly. The headline is an indication of sensationalized journalism.
Exactly. The headline is an indication of sensationalized journalism.
As was pointed out before there is sweep='large majority of' and clean sweep=all.
As was pointed out before there is sweep='large majority of' and clean sweep=all.
That was asserted... but was false.
The generally accepted meaning of "sweep" is all. It only means majority when referring to things that are decided by never unanimous percentages, like elections. At least that is the connotation in America. I'm not sure about how the phrase is used in other English speaking nations.
Which seems to be the case in this instance.
In a few months I will be able to paste a link to confirm this, perhaps some emoji will make up for it:-
That was asserted... but was false.
The generally accepted meaning of "sweep" is all. It only means majority when referring to things that are decided by never unanimous percentages, like elections. At least that is the connotation in America. I'm not sure about how the phrase is used in other English speaking nations.
With this in mind, it would be better to not use the colloquialism since it conveys a sensationalized portrayal of events to the majority of this web site's readers.
Admittedly this sets the journalism bar pretty high. But it is critical feedback such as this that motivates journalists to perfect their craft. Well, that and probably enraging them slightly at the same time.
That was asserted... but was false.
The generally accepted meaning of "sweep" is all. It only means majority when referring to things that are decided by never unanimous percentages, like elections. At least that is the connotation in America. I'm not sure about how the phrase is used in other English speaking nations.
Generally accepted doesn't apply to all definitions of all words. It, as you point out, only applies to what is generally accepted. Another term would colloquial speak. If you look in any reasonable dictionary you'll find that the definition for sweep and clean sweep clearly describe what has been discussed on this thread.
So it seems the usage might be acceptable in Britain but not in America.
Nope, it's American English, too. Check any reasonable dictionary, including the New Oxford American Dictionary that ships with with every copy of Mac OS X.
A good percentage of the people reading that headline will interpret it as the iPhone having won ALL of the awards.