[Ads-l] childs (2nd attempt)

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

Dear ads-l colleagues,
The message I just sent might have arrived garbled up.
Here is a second attempt:

I'm not so sure it was a mere slip.  It may fit into the style of police
reporting which aims to keep the speaker at an emotional distance from
the people being reported about. So, for example, instead of speaking
about "men" and "women," a report may speak of "males" and
"females."  There's less of a human, emotional bond of the speaker
with the people being reported on.  Here's one example I just found
on the internet concerning another matter
:
"As a result, three males and three females were arrested and is assisting with the investigation."
​In the case of the Uvalde police-reporting, the emotional connection
of everyone with the children is intense. I suspect that the police
reporter tried subconsciously to reduce the emotional bond and
thereby somehow sound more professional by replacing "children"
with "childs."

Gerald Cohen

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