Ok, so while its kind of been a slowish week in terms of news, and my car situation isn't completely cleard up yet (good news though, the repairs to the wheel are finished, and I will only have to pay the $250 deductible rather than the $500 one. So I should be on the road again soon, or at least until I have to take it in to the body shop to fix the fender.), I do have interesting information. I got my first bit of kooky mail today, with regards to one of last weeks stories. Here's what it says (along with some editorial comments from yours truly):
"Dear Sir/Madam (My name's the one on the story, and I know very few women named Jim)
RE: St. Katharine Drexel
I thought it was very insulting to address our pastor as "Ham" in your recent article (AP Style guide says you only address people by formal titles once, thus the Pope is referred to as Pope Benedict XVI usually only once in a story, afterwards its just Benedict XVI, same with the president.) Were you short on printers ink that you were'nt able to identify him as "Fr. Ham"? (You see the problems here don't you?) Maybe your just atheist? (Again, the problems)
Any one else and you would've address that person as Mr., Mrs. or an appropriate title identify the person's status. (okay)
Yes, I did like the article and I do appreciate the newspaper. (Them why'd you accuse me of being an atheist and basically being a part of a conspiracy against God?)
Yup, I get letters. I kept all the grammar and spellings as they appeared in the letter, in case you didn't realize.
I'll blog tomorrow about the runaway bride story, and why she shouldn't be getting dumped on like this.
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2 comments:
Even though I think she's being ridiculous for writing you... I kind of agree with her. Fr. Ham just sounds better than Ham by itself. Ham is an odd name to be by itself. Even though I know you're right about the AP Style... it might be worth considering including a title when talking about a Father. Let your editor worry about the AP Style :)
But that's just me.
I understand your point, except I can't worry about the length of a name, if his name were O'Shaughnessy I wouldn't put Fr. there either. You are right though that it is a funny name to be by itself like that, thaough perhaps snidely referring to him as Fr. Back Bacon wouldn't have gone over well. Besides, my editor would just make the change anyway and it would still be my byline, it wouldn't change anything. That's her job.
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