Now though, after years of sarcasm from the media and a fatalistic attitude from PR agencies, this scourge may have met its match – after a blog by The Economist’s writers published a list of scientifically-examined words that will, in all likelihood, cause it to blacklist a press release. Well, not so much blacklist it as refrain from writing editorial about its contents. Which is the important thing really.

The most overused ‘trying way too hard’ word was, of course, ‘leader’. A leader are you? Not the leader then? Just a leader? As in ‘a loser’? Harsh, but this is how journalists will often react. Particularly when they are utterly sick of such prose.

Should other journalists come out and decry the words that are a big editorial turn-off for them? Let’s hope so. Should PR agencies be braver and counsel clients that these types of blatantly attention-grabbing words can actually be counterproductive? Yes. Should agency PRs who insist on slotting such words into their press releases be re-educated? You know the answer.

Words matter. Let’s not litter our best-effort prospective editorial content with crap ones.

So in the absence of any distinctive opinion (beyond too many press releases are plop and too many PRs use the word ‘story’ when their information is inconsistent with such a claim), let me just chip in willy-nilly with an old blog favourite, a list.

A list of the 10 most useless, irrelevant or badly targeted press releases that I can remember receiving when working in journalism:

1. High Street bank’s press release on a great new business account, claiming to understand local business needs, localised with TippEx (name of county or city changed as appropriate)

2. Flowers are big news for Valentine’s Day, says florist

3. Country show’s entertainment line-up will be exactly the same at last year’s

4. A three-page handwritten ditty on how people can learn to bake cakes better

5. Hairdresser buys new broom

6. ‘Shouldn’t you be contemplating installing a stairlift?’ Ah, that old negative rhetorical

7. Supporters express joy that canal restoration project was completed 20 years ago

8. Don’t forget to pack the suncream if you’re heading to the sun, says retailer

9. A major who sent his own edited minutes of council meetings with quotes of him talking in bold

10. Dog enters Crufts