Comments on: Consistent Style Sheet Eliminates Value Judgments

By: June 2007 « M. J. Maddox

June 2007 « M. J. Maddox — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 21:27:36 +0000

[...] Language Tips June 2007 * 29: Consistent Style Sheet Eliminates Value Judgments * 26: Me, Myself, and I * 25: Careful with Words Used as Noun and Verb * 22: The Possessive [...]

By: Maeve

Maeve — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 01:13:42 +0000

Donna,
I didn’t know what kind of name “Pankaj” is. I thought the “Mr.” fit the context of my article.

As for horrid/horrific — why were you hoping for horrific?

By: Donna

Donna — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 00:44:41 +0000

I agree with you, but you reversed yourself with Pankaj’s name by adding the honorific only after the first usage. Can your readers have an explanation?

How do you know “Pankaj” is a male’s last name?

I was hoping you would say, “. . . I’d be inclined to leave off the honorific when it comes to perpetrators of the more horrific crimes.”

By: pkchukiss

pkchukiss — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 01:36:35 +0000

For my local newspapers, they tend to leave out the honorific for alleged criminals. I disagree with this practice, since it always gives me the impression that the paper has already convicted the person even before a hearing.

That sounds very rude, especially if the person is later acquitted.

On the other hand, printing the honorific and surname of a person who is being charged sounds a little awkward, and may appear weird to someone looking through the archives if the person is later convicted.

A possible compromise might be to print the person’s first name while he is not convicted.