Patron Saint of Journalists, apparently.

Google finds about 300,000 pages featuring the word astonished. Change the search term to "astonishing" and you find another 675,000.

Strangely, it seems as if the most easily astonished people in society are journalists. For example, search for the word "astonished" on the Guardian web site, and "6640 articles match your search." Or 8954 if you just look for words that contain the string "astonish."

Obviously, the patron saint of astonishment has to be Saint Christina the Astonishing, who "[C]ould not stand the odor of other people because she could smell the sin in them, and would climb trees or buildings, hide in ovens or cupboards, or simply levitate to avoid contact."

This sounds like many journalists I know.

God knows, we're all guilty of that "most overused word or saying" syndrome. But whereas regular people might go through phases of using a particular word, or might over-use several, journalists in particular seem to exist in a constant state of bewilderment. You'll find 5200-odd instances of astonishment on the BBC web site, for example. On the other hand, there are just 3680 on The Independent, so perhaps the people over there are just that little bit more cynical than those at the Guardian.

I'm wondering, is astonishment a Liberal disease (hence overuse at the Guardian and BBC)? Because there seem to be only 1000 or so over at the Times. But no, for there are 4282 articles containing "astonishing" over at the Telegraph. I suspicion that the Times search feature is limiting itself somehow.

Over at the New York Times, you can search for the word in their archives between 1851 and 1995. Think of a number. The number I'm thinking of is 102,352.

I'm gobsmacked.