Fun_People Archive
13 Dec
Bit o' Bull No. 351

Date: Wed, 13 Dec 95 23:19:12 -0800
From: Peter Langston <psl>
To: Fun_People
Subject: Bit o' Bull No. 351

Excerpted-from: THE BURNED-OUT NEWSPAPERCREATURES GUILD'S NEWSLETTER #351

TRENDS IN REPORTAGE.  A posting in the alt.journalism Usenet group
(see Internet) has it:
     "Just overheard: 'When police arrived, they found one man
dead and his wife, a woman, standing ..."  Is there a weekly
effort to lower minimum IQ standards for viewers, or did it hit
bottom a while ago?"
     Came the answer:  "You've obviously missed out on the trend.
'The Last Seduction,' 'The Crying Game' plus a host of other
movies have revealed the growing number of men who inadvertently
marry or date other men. The current edition of Broadcast News
Style Guide (online edition at http://www.ceorg.org/bnsg/) notes
that it is proper to indicate the sex of spouses, especially in
cases involving death.  It is also proper to reveal the sex of a
person generally, whenever it is known.
     "To provide maximum clarity, the following form should be
used:  'At the U.N. today, Dr. Singh, a woman, introduced the
French diplomat, a different woman, to her male husband, a man.
To clarify, two women and one man were involved.  One of the women
was married to the man. Even though the woman's title was "Doctor"
she was still a woman. Women are female, while men are male.'"

© 1995 Peter Langston