"call a spade a spade" furor

[Paul Ivsin]

The substitution at the Fresno Bee was a deliberate practical joke by a
staff member, not an inadvertent overcorrection.

A good account is at

http://www.urbanlegends.com/language/back_in_the_african_american.html

Paul

...
Paul Ivsin
paul at ivsin.com
...
----- Original Message -----
From: "Laurence Horn" <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, November 13, 2001 11:44 PM
Subject: Re: "call a spade a spade" furor


>
> Or the item recounted by Deborah Cameron (on p. 116 of the "Civility
> and its discontents" chapter of her Verbal Hygiene):
>
> "In the early 1990's, a humorous item in the British Guardian
> newspaper reported that the Fresno Bee, a California newspaper, had
> been forced to run a curious correction.  Inadvertently, the Bee had
> referred to 'a plan for putting Massachusetts back in the
> African-American.' "
>
> I wonder if the Fresno Bee is a cousin of the Sacramento Bee that
> just informed us about the "spade" flap.
>
> larry
>