Adjectives are a strict no-no when writing news, news as in only facts. An adjective preceding a fact turns the fact into an opionon, a subjective belief. But The Economist has been a magazine - it calls itself a newspaper - which is liberal with the adjective.
'Mercurial' is an adjective the magazine has been using of late when describing French President Nicolas Sarkozy, not once but several times. An alert London reader counting it was used ten times for one subject, Sarkozy which raised his eyebrows and let his fingers fly while punching the computer keyboard. Mercurial was "overused" he wrote in his letter published in the newspaper's November 19 edition.
Ross Hobart offered 15 alternatives to the ten-times used word: capricious, chnageable, erratic, expansive, fickle, irrepressible lubricious, spirited, unpredictable, unstable,variable, and volatile. But think of it, nothing fits Sarkozy better that 'mercurial' does.
For instance, there are only two ways of describing the French President's height: short. Diminutive wouldn't quite say what 'short' does and given his stature, diminutive wouldn't quite be mot juste. So use of a Thesarus is not always the best way out. If Sarkozy is short and merciruail that is what he is. Anbd those are the best words that says it all.
