Age and gender confusion at the Olympics

[Laurence Horn]

Joel's discussion below reflects a style practice altered several
years (possibly over a decade) ago.  For quite some time now, the
Times uses no titles in their sports pages.  More accurately, any
article about sports figures *qua sports figures* in the sports pages
refers to the athletes, both male and female (after the initial
establishing full name mention), by last name only.  Therefore, any
choice other than "He" (after first mention) would violate the now
consistently applied practice, unless the article described Ms. He
being accused of doping or other legal/ethical irregularities.  Note
the date on the Safire column.

LH

(I think the title + last name practice for non-strictly sports
related stories, e.g. when Bonds or Clemens is testifying before a
grand jury or in Congress, can be overridden in columns as opposed to
regular news stories.  It does get complicated.)

At 9:11 AM -0400 8/16/08, Joel S. Berson wrote:
>At 8/15/2008 11:19 PM, Douglas G. Wilson wrote:
>>...
>>Probably putting "Ms." or otherwise clarifying would violate the
>>company's style rules and generate angry letters from persons "offended"
>>for various reasons.
>
>I don't definitively know about the Boston Globe, and we are perhaps
>more easily offended about manners here than in New York, but -- the
>Globe is now owned by the New York Times, and "Ms." is the Times's
>required style (absent any expressed desire by the subject),
>promulgated some years ago.  And probably written about by Safire.
>... Yes indeed -- "ON LANGUAGE; GOODBYE SEX, HELLO GENDER", Aug. 5,
>1984, when he wrote "It breaks my heart to suggest this, but the time
>has come for Ms."  And the editors responded:
>
>"From the Editors:
>
>"Some days the Title Question appears to claim more time - and ignite
>more passion - than the East-West arms race.
>
>"We accept anyone's choice - in this case, Geraldine Ferraro's choice
>- of a professional name. But a title is not part of the name.
>Publications vary in tone, and the titles they affix to names will
>differ accordingly. The Times clings to traditional ones ( Mrs., Miss
>and Dr., for example). As for Ms. - that useful business-letter
>coinage - we reconsider it from time to time; to our ear, it still
>sounds too contrived for news writing.
>
>"Among traditional titles, why not heed the bearer's choice, assuming
>it isn't deceitful? Representative Ferraro's Mrs. seems no more a
>matter of ''right'' or ''wrong'' than the preferences of Beverly
>Greenough (Miss Sills), Joan Dunne (Miss Didion), Diana Silberstein
>(Miss Ross), Meryl Gummer (Miss Streep) or Dr. Henry A. Kissinger
>(who favors Mr. ).
>
>As Mr. Safire might put it, they're all entitled."
>
>And in "Talk to the Newsroom: Deputy News Editor Philip B. Corbett",
>published Oct. 29, 2007, on page 8 of 13:
>
>"A. Our style is to use "Ms." unless a woman chooses to use "Mrs." or
>"Miss." That rule applies both to private individuals and to public figures.
>
>>Moving it to within the sentence would be reasonable IMHO. But such care
>>would be foreign to the Internet, surely.
>
>I was writing of the paper edition of the Boston Globe.
>
>Joel
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org