"factual tv" vs. "reality tv"

[Doug Harris]

'Factual' implies to me something like news and similar type programming.
'Reality programming' suggests something that has absolutely nothing to do with
reality as most of us know it to be.
Where on earth (??) do 'they' find the participants on (not to mention audiences for)
those so-called 'reality' programs?
I actually knew there was a substantial population of extreme egotists, social misfits
and people who make my dumb-as-rocks dog look as smart as Snoopy, but it's
extremely annoying to be reminded of the fact each and every time I scroll through
the TV channels.
dh

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----- Original message ----------------------------------------
From: "Amy West" <medievalist at W-STS.COM>
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Received: 3/27/2009 9:13:21 AM
Subject: "factual tv" vs. "reality tv"


>This is a British dialect question: I didn't spot this treated over
>at Separated by a Common Language . . . .

>A friend in Canterbury, Kent, just used the phrase "factual televsion
>programming" in a context that led me to believe it's equivalent to
>American "reality tv." Is that so or is there a difference. (And are
>both labels equally misleading as to the contents?)

>---Amy West

>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org