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Q&A What does being "heavy handed" mean? And how does one avoid it?

The sports term for "heavy handed" is "piling on." In American football, if the runner has been "tackled," there is no need for other defensive players to jump on him. Chris' example, " She had ...

posted 10y ago by Tom Au‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

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#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T04:01:10Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16106
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar Tom Au‭ · 2019-12-08T04:01:10Z (almost 5 years ago)
The sports term for "heavy handed" is "piling on."

In American football, if the runner has been "tackled," there is no need for _other_ defensive players to jump on him.

Chris' example, " She had vanquished the evil, _greedy,_ _squirrel-kicking_ lawyer," is a good one, because "She had vanquished the evil lawyer" is plenty, without the "piling on" of the other two adjectives.

It's not the worst fault in the world. I'd consider lack of creativity or originality more serious. But most critics find it annoying, and feel that it can easily be fixed or prevented. The way of avoiding it is to NOT "double up."

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2015-02-02T18:00:06Z (almost 10 years ago)
Original score: 11