turf
n.— «“If your mother sends you a letter to the editor saying she loves you, check it out. It might be turf. Today especially, there is an 80 percent probability it is turf.” “Turf” is editorial page slang for form letters sent out by special interest groups to create the concept of a “grassroots” outpouring of opinion. The advent of the Internet has fertilized “turf” allowing it to sprout wildly. It is the crab grass of letters to the editor.» —“Turf’s up: Debate letters flow” by Diane Hardisty Bakersfield Californian (California) Oct. 2, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
It was a dark and stormy night. So begins the long and increasingly convoluted prose of Edwards Bulwer-Lytton’s best-known novel. Today the annual Bulwer-Lytton Contest asks contestants for fanciful first sentences that are similarly...
How do social media algorithms shape the way we communicate? A new book argues that the competition for clicks is changing the way we speak and write, from the so-called “YouTube accent” to the surprising evolution of the word preppy. Also: A...