fall and autumn

[Paul Frank]

For some time I've been wondering why I come across, or think I come across,
the word fall more often than the word autumn in the New York Times. I'm
talking about the period between the September equinox and the December
solstice, not the other meanings of "fall." I've just come across this odd
sentence in a New York Times article published in the International Herald
Tribune: "Since the autumn of the Berlin Wall a decade ago, rightist
violence has become a fact of German life" (IHT, August 2, p. 5). This makes
me think that a New York Times slot man or drudge makes it his business to
replace the word fall with the posher but in my opinion uglier word autumn.

Cheers,
Paul
________________________________________
Paul Frank
Business, financial and legal translation
>From German, French, Chinese, Spanish,
Italian, Dutch and Portuguese into English
Thollon-les-Memises, 74500 Evian, France
paulfrank at wanadoo.fr