Travel writers have a whole different colour palette to ordinary folk. Maybe they’re just special. Take ‘verdant’ for example. Where the average pleb would just call a hillside “green”, a travel writer knows that they’ve already used “green” a couple of times in the piece and thus needs to diversify to avoid repetition.
Thus “verdant” comes in; a word that is never used in real life.
The same theory applies to “azure” – inevitably used for a blue sea (or, even better, a crystal clear one – neatly forgetting to explain how water can be both crystal clear and deep blue at the same time).
And, of course, there’s “golden”. Why? Because yellow doesn’t sound all that sexy when you’re describing sand. Travel writer law also dictates that “golden” is used as a default to describe all sandy beaches, even the white ones.
With thanks to Mark Hodson of 101holidays.co.uk for the suggestion.
Do you have any favourite travel writer clichés? Why not suggest a few by leaving a comment below?
One of my faves is “cerulean” (longhand for ‘deep blue’)…
Boutique, compact & quaint = small.
Rustic = falling apart.
A rustic, boutique hotel in a compact and quaint ski resort sounds like heaven…
describing rivers as “mighty.”
I admit to using this one myself when referring to our mighty Columbia River. There must be a better way to describe this gorgeous, powerful river . . .