It is with a deep and heartfelt thigh that I respond to your article about fooling the copy desk. In the Washington bureau of a major news organization, we too had the creamy thigh competition but, because we never had a food writer who could refer to chicken parts, nobody ever won. I heard of a Los Angeles Times reporter who used to try to slip Jackson Brown lyrics into stories. For reasons I cannot possibly explain, or even understand anymore, we tried to get "okra" into print in an effort that spanned The Denver Post and a Wall Street Journal bureau member. As for fancy words, "gibbous" moon is my favorite, though I hope I am not being contumelious in saying so.
Dan Meyers Projects Editor The Denver Post 1560 Broadway Denver, CO 80202 dmeyers@denverpost.com 1-800-DENPOST ext. 1555
The short piece in the up-front section detailed Andre Agassi's search for anew racket deal, and the extensive trying of different brands (Head, Prince,Wilson, etc.) in the process. I wound up the piece with this kicker:
"...and, after extensive testing and experimentation with different models,Agassi likes Head."
Only one reader spotted it. In her note to me she said, "I certainly hopeso!"
As per Deborah Gump's request, here's a link to my column with no letter e's. You'll notice the column has no real point and is not technically worthy of making it into ANY sort of newspaper, but heck, it doesn't have any e's, so that's cool. You'll also notice that the formatting on the Web site is a little screwy. The correct title of the column is "ABCD_FGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ."
http://www.review.udel.edu/archive/2000_Issues/04.14.00/index.php3?section=3&article=10
Any feedback ... sgallagher@delawaretoday.com
I was covering an NCAA regional in Waterbury, Conn. UConn was playing Georgia or Georgia Tech and lost the game.
One of the UConn captains (I think) spoke at the press conference. He was talking about a pitch he should have swung at because "it was right down the cock." I had heard the phrase before, just like "down the pipe" or d"down the middle" or "meat pitch."
I used the quote, filed the story and went back to the hotel. I called the desk, and my assistant sports editor said, "Billy, something's wrong here."
It took about five minutes until he finally said something to the effect of "body part," and the light came on. We inserted [middle of the plate] in bracjets, I think.
The next day, the player apologized and all the reporters murmured that they hadn't used it. Later I told the kid he -- and I -- owed my editor a favor.
Bill ToscanoLedyard, Conn.
From the "Cheetahs never win" department, I wonder how many upstate New York papers use the headline "Niagara falls" when the Purple Eagles lose. I know we have done it in Connecticut.
He re-read the quote to me several times, and I kept telling him. "That's what he said.
It was a grip-and-grin of some doctor he didn't like getting an award. As a joke for others on the desk, he started the caption "Noted neo-Nazi Dr..." Unfortunately for him, the thing passed through the desk and got into the first edition. The editor ran into the pressroom yelling "stop the presses!" (and you thought it was only in the movies), but still had to send reporters out to track down the trucks delivering that first edition.
He was actually suspended with pay. Given what the Daily News paid at the time, though, that's not as good as it sounds.
In my current job, we used to have a reporter who had two goals: One was to get obscenity-laced comments from an analyst we frequently quoted into print (the guy was known as "Swearing Man)" He tried leaving the choicest comments for the very last graf. Never worked, though. The other was to get the phrase "like an Earth-bestriding colossus" into print. For months, he'd work that into his stories. For months, the desk cut it out. Finally, they slipped or relented and it showed up in the lead of a front-page story (something about Microsoft). He quit a couple months later...
The first letter of each sentence spelled out "Help I've Been Lobotomized" ..
We also had an editor who regularly ran photographs of pregnant or nursing farm animals on the same page as La Leche League meeting notices ... tasteless, but an endless source of mirth and angry phone calls.
Re BONG Bull: It's a must-read. TO SUBSCRIBE: Send a blank e-mail to bong-l-subscribe@topica.com.(Note: That's bong-ELL, not bong-ONE.)
For any young company, capital is like mother's milk, the sustenance needed for growth. A captive audience of attentive financiers offered hope for a long, cool drink.
On misty days the sky and water marry on Prince William Sound, a ceremony overseen by the bridesmaids of jeweled mountains.
Moon launches are triumphs of computers, engineering, metallurgy and chemical popellants: potent, polished shafts risen on flaming pillars to penetrate the very heavens; the key to virgin frontiers for a race whose home planet is showing signs of wear and tear.
John McIntyreA.M.E./Copy DeskThe Baltimore Sun
Well, the editor didn't catch it -- because he didn't pay attention to detail -- and it made print.
Members of the group called and were livid, but we were OK with that -- at least we knew they would not go outside to march on our building.
Speaking of Mass., how come the Milford reporter was reprimanded instead of promoted? He was just telling the truth!
