[Ads-l] Reality Winner

[Jonathan Lighter]

FWIW, I can remember thinking in 1963 (and especially as it continued) that
it was just weird how Lee Harvey Oswald's middle name was almost *always*
specified.

JL

On Sun, Jun 11, 2017 at 12:56 PM, Jim Parish <jparish at siue.edu> wrote:

> On 6/11/2017 11:10 AM, Dave Wilton wrote:
>
>> Journalists frequently use a person's middle name, especially someone
>> charged with a crime, to distinguish them from potential others with the
>> same name. Lee Harvey Oswald, for example, rarely used his middle name. He
>> was just "Lee Oswald" to those who knew him. It was journalists who made
>> the middle name iconic. Ditto for James Earl Ray.
>>
>> In Reality Winner's case, however, I don't think potential confusion with
>> others is an issue, which may be why *more* journalists aren't using her
>> middle name.
>>
>
> I'd want quantitative data before accepting that first claim. I can think
> of many people, accused of crimes similar to Winner's, whose middle names
> have not been reported prominently: Aldrich Ames, Edward Snowden,
> Bradley/Chelsea Manning, etc.
>
> Jim Parish
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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