Avoid embarrassment:
The word, that is. And any derivative such as 'embarrassing' or 'embarrass'.
It's one of those words that doesn't mean the same to a (lazy) journalist as it does to the rest of the world.
To real people, embarrassment is farting loudly in a quiet concert hall. It's forgetting the name of the old friend you're about to introduce. It's finding out the person you're mocking is standing, unseen, behind you.
To journalists, though, it's a useful, though vacuous, word that says ... 'I want to make a story out of this but I don't know what the story actually is.'
So we read/hear that the Prime Minister is 'embarrassed' by having to knock back a junior minister; or that Nelson Mandela is 'embarrassed' because of allegations that blood diamonds were being handed round after one of his parties. You get the drift.
Now, in reality both men may well be many things: 'furious' or 'angry'; 'dismissive' or 'pretty cool on the whole'. We might feel entitled to come to the judgment, on the facts, that in the one case policy is being made on the hoof or, in the other, that the former South African president should have taken more care.
And if, as journalists, we feel we have the facts to support such a judgment, then by all means we should raise the question.
Instead, in the absence of anything that can be called fact, it's 'embarrassing' or 'an embarrassment'.
Now, set aside the possibility that people in public life seem to have very much higher embarrassment thresholds than the rest of us, such that the cruel and wicked might say that anyone going into politics isn't embarrassed by very much ... setting that aside, when journalists use the word 'embarrassed', it speaks of a universe where all leaders are 'embarrassed' if something doesn't go exactly to plan.
Or if someone (even themselves) mis-speaks or doesn't recite the party catechism. Or if they find themselves shaking hands, unwittingly, with a crook or bad sort.
What it actually means is that the journalist hasn't thought very much about what the story is or might be. That they want to say something about a story but don't know what. Or that it's the kind of story that speaks to their prejudices and those of their audience.
So here's a tip. When you're tempted to say something has 'embarrassed' someone, ask yourself what you really mean. What you're really trying to say.
And if you have the facts to support it, fine; say it. If not ... don't just lazily reach for 'embarrassment'.
It's embarrassing.
