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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 ...
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#3: Attribution notice added
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
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."