John's Blog

No, something in the news did not “reach a crescendo”! This ignorant use of the word, usually in news media, is offensive to musicians and anyone who cares about language. Crescendo is Italian for “increase” — in music it means a gradual increase in loudness, which could be from Very Soft to Somewhat Soft. If the metaphor must be musical, you could say something like “the crescendo of criticism reached fortissimo.”