Fun_People Archive
26 May
Excerpted: BONG Bull No. 472!

Content-Type: text/plain
Mime-Version: 1.0 (NeXT Mail 3.3 v118.2)
From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Tue, 26 May 98 00:50:56 -0700
To: Fun_People
Precedence: bulk
Subject: Excerpted: BONG Bull No. 472!
References: <199805251605.MAA19017@mongoose.bsdi.com>

X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649
Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: Mike Linksvayer <mlinksva@netcom.com>

THE COST OF BEING STYLISH.  On the subject of the AP Stylebook, ace
arbiter Martha Hardcastle Guthrie of the Dayton Daily News enjoys
stylistic armwrestling.  Her openers:
	1. How do you spell that red, tomato-based condiment former
President Ronald Reagan thought qualified as a vegetable for the
purpose of school lunches for poor children?
	2. You are describing a man with dark brown hair and want to
use the proper noun. He is a ________? What if it's a woman?
	3. Essay question. We don't refer to teachers as Teachers or
preachers as Preachers. Why do we refer to realtors as Realtors?
	4. Menswear or men's wear?
	5. What's wrong with this sentence? "The Arable family reared
many generations of pigs to take to the fair, and Wilbur was their
most unforgettable entry."
	Answers:
	1. Ketchup.
	2. brunet, brunette.
	3.  Real estate agent is the preferred term, but find me an editor
who will use three words when one will do. The upper case Realtor refers
to any real estate agent who is a member of the National Association of
Realtors. "Find me one who doesn't -- and all my editors have deferred to
Realtor every friggin' time. Now, I simply avoid writing about real estate
agents out of spite. I suspect some sort of sharp real estate lawyer
pulled some kind of lobbying thing at an AP convention and got the High
Potentate of the Ass. Press to promise this while he or she was very
drunk. Oops! Never abbreviate assistant or associate! My mistake!
	4. Menswear.
	5. Only humans may be reared, although any living
thing, including humans, may be raised.
	Guthrie:  <mothra@erinet.com>

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*
      THE BURNED-OUT NEWSPAPERCREATURES GUILD'S NEWSLETTER
                             BONG Bull
        Copyright (c) 1998 by BONG.   All rights reserved.
^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

To subscribe:  Email to listserv@netcom.com.  In the text say
subscribe bong-l.

A connoisseur of wrong impressions, BONG Chief Copyboy Charley
Stough, Dayton Daily News, 45 S. Ludlow St., Dayton, Ohio 45401
salutes impressive scribes worldwide.  E-mail copyboy@dma.org.  Phone
(937) 225-2445 after 5 p.m. eastern.  Fax 225-2489.

© 1998 Peter Langston