Someone's asleep at da desk

johnsfulmer · **Posted:** Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:11 pm

By Larry Carson
The (Baltimore) Sun The Howard County delegation to the 2004 General Assembly could borrow a line from the late comedian Jimmy Durante and use it as a motto: "Everybody wants to get into da act!"Well, if you're over 40 . . .

KfitzR · **Posted:** Thu Nov 06, 2003 1:19 pm

Make that WELL over 40!

majorbabs · **Posted:** Thu Nov 06, 2003 3:39 pm

And don't we dispense with "late" for someone like Durante, who's been dead longer than some people on this board have been alive?And speaking of which, I noticed that the AP story about the Country Music Awards said "Johnny Cash won the ..." Shouldn't he be classified, particularly in this context, as the late Johnny Cash?

johnsfulmer · **Posted:** Thu Nov 06, 2003 5:12 pm

I liked Durante; he's the kind of performer who is rare today. The old vaudevillian relied more on sheer will and professionalism than raw talent, and he wasn't much to look at either.The lede was brought to my attention by my girlfriend who works at a newspaper that competes with The Sun. She took an informal poll in her newsroom and found that those under 40 didn't know who Durante was, while those over 40 did. The reporter, of course, was over 40 and should have known better. Inappropriate pop-culture references aren't the exclusive domain of the MTV crowd.As Walter Winchell used to say . . .

aneye4detail · **Posted:** Thu Nov 06, 2003 11:46 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by nyet:
As Walter Winchell used to say . . .<hr></blockquote>Who's Walter Winchell?
Mary, age 36

Rio · **Posted:** Fri Nov 07, 2003 1:36 am

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by majorbabs:
And speaking of which, I noticed that the AP story about the Country Music Awards said "Johnny Cash won the ..." Shouldn't he be classified, particularly in this context, as the late Johnny Cash?<hr></blockquote>Depends on how the story's written. If the story backs into the lede, as this one does, then no; the story already makes clear he's dead before saying he won awards. If the lede is more to the point, like "The late Johnny Cash won ...," then yes, you should.

majorbabs · **Posted:** Fri Nov 07, 2003 5:06 pm

The story started with "Johnny Cash won..." no backing into the lede.

Rio · **Posted:** Fri Nov 07, 2003 11:15 pm

<blockquote>quote:<hr>Originally posted by majorbabs:
The story started with "Johnny Cash won..." no backing into the lede.<hr></blockquote>Well, that's wrong, of course. What you read was probably an early version, one that AP dumped on the wire before its editors looked at it.

majorbabs · **Posted:** Sat Nov 08, 2003 8:30 pm

Thank you. And I think that takes us back to the topic, "Some papers run AP unedited..."

johnsfulmer · **Posted:** Tue Nov 11, 2003 11:37 am

Speaking of which . . .From Molly Ivins:"The late Bill Kugle is buried in the Texas State Cemetery."Let's hope so, Molly.

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