Re: The dumbing down of the news

["A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@world.std.com>]

On 11 Feb 99,  H Glazer wrote:

> This, of course, is done in the name of standardization, which is why
> stylebooks are written. AP has also removed the apostrophe from "Baha'i"
> (It's now "Bahai") and decided that all women, except in sports stories,
> get courtesy titles before their names. 

This whole business about courtesy titles has annoyed me for years.  
Traditionally, American newspapers used to use courtesy titles for 
women, but not for men.  In the late 60s, in the interest of equality, 
they generally eliminated courtesy titles for women. I thought at the 
time that what they should have done was add them for men, as British 
newspapers do.  I think the New York Times also uses courtesy titles 
for both men and women, except in sports stories.

The lack of courtesy titles can also cause confusion.  Such as a story I 
once read where Kitty Dukakis was referred to as "Dukakis," and I 
wasn't quite sure whether they were referring to her or her husband.

Incidentally, according to British usage, the queen mother is not called 
"Queen Mother Elizabeth" but "Queen Elizabeth the queen mother."  
This is because "queen mother" is not a title, but a description, used in 
order to distinguish the elder Queen Elizabeth from her daughter.  If 
not for the similarity of names, the late king's widow would simply be 
called "Queen Elizabeth," as the widow of King Hussein is still called 
"Queen Noor."

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 A.Joseph Ross, J.D.                                 617.367.0468
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