I’ve been noticing a trend in newscasts. The talking heads are emphasising certain words in their stories. ‘The fire started while the ship was offloading gasoline.’ ‘Now the automaker has developed a plug-in electric car.’ ‘Hezbollah launched rockets at targets in Isreal.’ ‘Breastfeeding can reduce the pain from that pinprick.’
It’s difficult to convey the sound in text on a message board. To me the way they use the emphasis gives the impression of an implied ‘can you imagine that?’ It’s as if they’re surprised at certain details of what they’re reporting. Has anyone else noticed this?
Aside to the weather-guesser: Please stop inserting ‘on’ into your statements. It sounds awkward when you say a storm system is ‘moving on off’.