Do you still beat your wife? (1901)

[Sam Clements]

----- Original Message -----
From: <Bapopik at AOL.COM>
Subject: Do you still beat your wife? (1901)



> I don't think anyone who has dealt with reporters overestimates their
> intelligence, training, or accuracy.  A couple of weeks ago the New York
> Times printed an article about the origins of the expression "When did you
> stop beating your wife?"  They interviewed me for the article, but
> referred to me throughout the piece as "Fred Siegel."  The reporter later
> told me that she knew someone named Fred Siegel, and her mind just
> conflated the two people.
> all their reporting is riddled with errors.

(PROQUEST HISTORICAL NEWSPAPERS)(New York Times)
> On Council's Budget List: More Funds to Sue Mayor; City Hall Notes
> By ABBY GOODNOUGH. New York Times (1857-Current file). New York, N.Y.: Apr
24, 1999. p. B2 (1 page) :
>    The Mayor was partly right, said Fred Siegel, a Yale University
librarian and editor of the Oxford Dictionary of American Legal Quotations.
The Police Commissioner was indeed referring to a type of logical fallacy
that was "written about by Aristotle," Mr. Siegel said.
>    But he added that the actual wife-beating question could be traced not
to ancient Greece, but to "Legal Laughs: A Joke for Every Jury," a 1914 book
by Gus C. Edwards.

So, you're saying that Fred has a secret identity?

Abby certainly isn't a "Good nough*" reporter, based on that story.

Pronounced 'good nuff' in my world.  :)

Sam Clements