Are you just tired, after the Oscars, of famous people thanking slightly less famous people in effusive yet still hollow fashion? Well, the good news is award season is pretty much over, so you've got a few months off from all the insider love. Also good news: The Economist has a chart examining the frequency of "mushy words"—including but not limited to "beautiful," "dream," "happy," "heart," and "love"—in acceptance speeches for Best Actor and Actress, and things are getting decidedly less mushy. Maybe it was because of the onstage tongue-in-cheek Meryl Streep love and the up-the-stairs trip heard 'round Hollywood, but Daniel Day-Lewis and Jennifer Lawrence were pretty cliché-free compared to their Oscar forebears  and especially so when compared to the extreme mushiness of Jean Dujardin last season:

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Esther Zuckerman