A Question for My Beloved Grammarians...
I was reading an article today in the LA Times about the "crisis" in television comedies (i.e., there aren't very many of them that are succeeding right now). The author made reference to "the so-called 'single-camera' comedies." They are "so-called" because are shot with a single camera instead of with multiple cameras.
And it got me thinking about that phrase, "so-called." Is that really the correct way to use this? Having just talked about multiple-camera comedies shot in front of live studio audences, shouldn't the next paragraph's discussion of single-camera comedies have made the use of that phrase self-explanatory? And in that context is "so-called" really called for? Doesn't it imply that the term "single-camera comedies" is jargon and needs to be acknowledged as such? Or am I just being picky?
And, incidentally, couldn't the writer have then explained the economic or even the stylistic differences between the genres, aside from just noting that single-camera shows are generally shot "on location" (not always true, actually) and give the shows "a more cinematic feel" (also not always true, but not a bad shorthand description)?
(Interview me, dear writer, and find out why I want the multiple-camera shows to have a comeback!)
And it got me thinking about that phrase, "so-called." Is that really the correct way to use this? Having just talked about multiple-camera comedies shot in front of live studio audences, shouldn't the next paragraph's discussion of single-camera comedies have made the use of that phrase self-explanatory? And in that context is "so-called" really called for? Doesn't it imply that the term "single-camera comedies" is jargon and needs to be acknowledged as such? Or am I just being picky?
And, incidentally, couldn't the writer have then explained the economic or even the stylistic differences between the genres, aside from just noting that single-camera shows are generally shot "on location" (not always true, actually) and give the shows "a more cinematic feel" (also not always true, but not a bad shorthand description)?
(Interview me, dear writer, and find out why I want the multiple-camera shows to have a comeback!)