When it comes to finding hidden gems, it’s probably best to defer to the experts. Miners won’t bother digging through lots of inaccessible terrain for just one gem – they’d sooner just scoop up the array of much more accessible gems.
There are lots of gems – why bother chasing the really awkward one?
In travel writing, however, a hidden gem can mean absolutely anywhere. It’s used indiscriminately as a metaphor for somewhere that’s quite nice. And, even better, it’s often used to describe places or hotels that have already had acres of media coverage. Thus the ‘gem’ is about as well hidden as a basketball player in the cast of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
With thanks to Nathan Midgley of Travel Weekly for the suggestion.
Tags: travel writer clichés
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Lovely. Annoys me even more when it goes unexplained – as if ‘hidden gem’ is recommendation enough. See also: liberal and unelaborated use of ‘unique’.
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