Quizbowlese

The pejorative term "quizbowlese" is used to refer to formulaic phrases or words that recur much more often in quizbowl question writing than anywhere else. Overuse of quizbowlese makes quizbowl questions harder to read, and makes it more difficult for new players to understand what their moderator is asking them.

Examples of quizbowlese, by category

Ranked from least to most odious using a "how likely is this to drive people away from quizbowl" standard:

Inside baseball

Definition: Constructions that are valid English but that many non-quizbowl-veterans are unlikely to know the meaning of

Examples:

• use of "[multiply]-eponymous"

Stupid lingo

Definition: Words that are used correctly, but introduce imprecision or dullness to questions for no reason

Examples:

• overuse of the word "work" to describe books, paintings, symphonies, treatises, etc.
  
• in a similar vein, using "polity," "entity," "figure," etc. as the only noun describing the answer
  
• connecting unrelated sentences with "In addition to <title>, ..." or "Besides..."
  
• linking unrelated clauses mid-sentence with "and" or "while"
  
• constructions designed to avoid "transparency" that go so far as to become useless, e.g. "this region's main form of conveyance is the longest of its kind"
• use of "would (verb)" or "would later go on to (verb)" instead of the simple past tense
• overuse of "following" where "after" is both easier to understand and faster to read

Stylistic failure

Definition: Technically valid but subpar usage that creates confusion about what is being described

Examples:

• overuse of the verb "sees", e.g. "This novel sees one character host lavish parties in West Egg."
• using the standalone adjective "this" or "these" as a noun
  
• use of "namesake" in ways that are ambiguous as to which item is or was named after another
• compulsive verbal tics that add confusion or superfluous words to phrases ("main protagonist" instead of "protagonist", "centers around" instead of "centers on", "in the novel in which he appears" instead of "the novel" or nothing)
• arrangement of information into relative clauses that offer no advantage over straightforward sentences ("At a battle, this man defended Little Round Top; that battle was Gettysburg" as opposed to "This man defended Little Round Top at the Battle of Gettysburg")

Remedial English failure

Definition: Outright incorrect word usage or sentence arrangement

Examples:

• overusing the adjective "titular" in place of the adjective "title"
  
• use of "protagonist" to mean "character" (also explains the rise of the inane construction "the main protagonist")
• giveaways that are neither a question nor a statement ("For 10 points, name this first President of the United States" is acceptable; "For 10 points, this first President of the United States." is not)
• use of "For 10 points" as a conjunction, e.g. "An opponent of the Levellers at the Putney Debates, for 10 points, name this Roundhead general who became Lord Protector of England."
• apposition of freestanding proper nouns at the end of sentences, rather than finding a natural word order whereby the noun is at the end of the sentence (example pulled by Rob Carson out of EFT 2009: "One visitor to this polity’s capital described how its women are oversexed and age about twice as quickly as Chinese women, Zhou Daguan." as opposed to "One visitor to this polity's capital, who described how its women are oversexed and age about twice as quickly as Chinese women, was Zhou Daguan" or similar fixes)
• referring to any written work as a "novel" regardless of length or fictional status
• referring to any married person as a "wife" regardless of gender
• referring to movements of musical works as "section"s
• referring to sections of movements of musical works as "movement"s
• confusion about what "nations," "states," and "countries" are, and as above, misuse of "polity"
• use of "one" as an indefinite article instead of "a" or "an"
• use of "was ruled unconstitutional by [Supreme Court case]" as a shorthand for "was in some way I can't be bothered to look up involved in [Supreme Court case]"

Navelgazing

Definition: Attempting to say "I don't know what this has to do with my question, but it's appeared in a lot of questions on this topic before so you should buzz on it" without actually saying that

Example:

• saying that the answer to the question is "associated with" some other thing