Date:    Sat, 6 Jun 1998 22:21:48 -0400
<br>From:    Gregory {Greg} Downing <gd2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]IS2.NYU.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: The Grey Lady comes clean
<br>
<br>At 08:35 PM 6/6/98 -0400, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALE.EDU> wrote:
<br>>>From today's New York Times (p. 2, Corrections column):
<br>>=========
<br>>A report in the Metropolitan Diary column on May 25 about ta nun who bought
<br>>a package of cookies at an airport was published in error.  The
<br>>incident--in which the nun thought that a man was helping himself to her
<br>>cookies when in fact she was helping herself to his [elegantly phrased,
<br>>eh?]--did not occur recently at  Kennedy International Airport [well, I
<br>>suppose it COULD have...].  It is a current myth and has been recounted by
<br>>a folklorist, Jan Harold Brunvand, in a variety of renditions in two books,
<br>>"The Choking Doberman" and "The Mexican Pet."
<br>>=========
<br>>Well, I take back my previous slur .  At least I'm quite certain Penthouse
<br>>Forum has never published a retraction acknowledging that a letter they had
<br>>published turned out to have related events that on careful investigation
<br>>did not occur.
<br>>
<br>
<br>Many urban myths are pretty obviously unlikely, prima facie, as we saw this
<br>week in re the editorial elevator. Why does this particular NYT reprint of a
<br>transparent and well-known urban myth rate a nostra culpa from The Newspaper
<br>Formerly Known as Grey? Because some wiseguy wrote in and called them on it
<br>for once? Out, out, damn'd spot!
<br>
<br>But it'll take more than a drop of bleach to degrey that Frau.... It's not
<br>only her hairdresser who knows for sure.... I can see it now: pretty soon
<br>they'll be printing up the one about the pink-haired matron, the poodle, and
<br>the microwave.... A friend of mine actually lives in her building and heard
<br>about that one right from the "super"....
<br>
<br>Mercilessly,
<br>
<br>Greg Downing/NYU, at greg.downing[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]nyu.edu or gd2[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]is2.nyu.edu
<br>