"Gee" is not fit to print?

[David Colburn]

For the record, "Gee" was the first word of the op-ed in question as it
appeared in the paper, so "not fit to print" strikes me as hyperbole.
Incidentally, "gee" also appeared in a theater review in today's paper.

-David Colburn

----- Original Message -----
From: <Bapopik at AOL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 8:34 PM
Subject: "Gee" is not fit to print?


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bapopik at AOL.COM
> Subject:      "Gee" is not fit to print?
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>
>    An interesting story about that New York City newspaper that tried
to=20
> prevent the liberation of Iraq and never published a story on "the Big=20
> Apple," from www.andrewsullivan.com:
>   =20
>  =20
> BEING EDITED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES: An old friend, Boris Johnson, whom
I=20
> remember as a young turk in the Oxford Union, is now a very grand
personage=20
> in British culture. He's a Tory MP and editor of the Spectator, one of
the=20
> house organs of London's chattering conservative classes. So I was
thrilled=20
> to see him turn up on the New York Times' op-ed page last Sunday, with
a=20
> peppy, funny piece about Mr Tony Blair. Yesterday, in the Spectator,
however=
> ,=20
> he unloaded on the experience of <A
HREF=3D"http://www.spectator.co.uk/artic=
> le.php3?table=3Dold&section=3Dcurrent&issue=3D2003-03-22&id=3D2907">being
ed=
> ited</A> under the p.c. auspices of 43rd=20
> Street. A quip about throwing money at the president of Guinea had to
be=20
> changed to the president of Chile. Why? "Uh, Boris," said Tobin, the
editor=20
> of his piece, "it's just easier in principle if we don't say anything=20
> deprecatory about a black African country, and since Guinea and Chile
are=20
> both members of the UN Security Council, and since it doesn't affect
your=20
> point, we would like to say Chile." Tom Wolfe couldn't make this stuff
up.=20
> Then there was the problem of Boris' lead sentence, which was a
sarcastic=20
> reference to Donald Rumsfeld's ham-fisted dis of the British military
effort=
> =20
> in Iraq. The piece began: "Gee, thanks, guys." After some too-ing and=20
> fro-ing, Tobin=20
> > revealed the true concerns of his multitudinous line-editors and=20
> > page-editors. =E2=80=98OK, Booris, I=E2=80=99ll tell you what the
problem=20=
> is. Our problem=20
> > is that =E2=80=9CGee=E2=80=9D is an abbreviation for Jesus. For a
century=20=
> this has been a=20
> > Jewish-owned paper, and we have to be extremely sensitive about
anything=20
> > that might offend Christian sensibilities. =E2=80=98We can say
=E2=80=9CGo=
> d=E2=80=9D, =E2=80=9CGod=E2=80=9D is=20
> > fine, but we have to be very careful about anything that involves the
name=
> =20
> > of the Lord and Saviour.=E2=80=99 =E2=80=98Jesus H. Christ,=E2=80=99 I
sai=
> d, =E2=80=98this is insane.=20
> > This is utterly insane.'
> No it isn't, old chum. It's the New York Times.
>