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Can you use the word "lynch" in a story?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by BurnsWhenIPee, Jun 3, 2019.

  1. Severian

    Severian Well-Known Member

    I agree with you, but your avatar of a guy in what looks like black face doesn't help.
     
  2. JRoyal

    JRoyal Well-Known Member

    It’s what I came up with on the fly. Say fans want players cut or demoted or whatever. Few people question players they think belong on the team, though.
     
  3. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    It's Jerry Lewis in clown makeup.
     
    Severian likes this.
  4. JRoyal

    JRoyal Well-Known Member

    The offending passage had a quote a couple of graphs later that had the manager defending the roster. That quote felt out of played without something added about people wanting players dropped. But the quote dang sure doesn’t justify a lunching metaphor.
     
    Doc Holliday likes this.
  5. JRoyal

    JRoyal Well-Known Member

    In the film he kept locked away because he hated it, right?
     
  6. BurnsWhenIPee

    BurnsWhenIPee Well-Known Member

    The term "upside" was used earlier, and that's what I keep coming back to.

    Was using the term and turn of phrase so ingenious, so clever and so necessary to telling the story, to make the P-D want to weather some people getting pissy about it and complaining? I guess not, since they edited it to say basically the same thing without "lynch" after about 12 hours on the site. The last thing newspapers need are things that make people hate them and kill credibility for no good reason.

    This did that … and again, for no good reason.

    The thing I'm most curious about is how much of a leash any copy editors - on site or remotely - have to edit Hummel. I'm guessing there aren't any copy editors there with much seniority or high pay, and I'm guessing they would be at least hesitant to take a heavy hand to a Hall of Famer's prose.
     
    Liut and JRoyal like this.
  7. PCLoadLetter

    PCLoadLetter Well-Known Member

    Correct. "The Day the Clown Cried."
     
    JRoyal likes this.
  8. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    Might be the only time in his life that Jerry Lewis was funny.
     
    reformedhack likes this.
  9. Robert Carter

    Robert Carter New Member

    As someone who lives and works in Birmingham, I can tell you that "Lynch" would definitely be a no-go. No upside, way too much downside. "Drawn and quartered" was particularly creative, though.
     
    BurnsWhenIPee likes this.
  10. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member

    I was dumbfounded when reading this thread that NOBODY sooner had come to this conclusion. Agree 110%. There is absolutely no justifiable reason for using "lynch" or "lynched." It bleeds racism. No. Never. Ever. Under any circumstance. The copy editor that let this slide is a pussy and a moron.
     
    sgreenwell and BurnsWhenIPee like this.
  11. Doc Holliday

    Doc Holliday Well-Known Member


    Tell you what pal, since it's not racist, why don't you start using it in your own copy? Then come back and let us know how that worked out.
     
    Last edited: Jun 8, 2019
    sgreenwell and BurnsWhenIPee like this.
  12. CD Boogie

    CD Boogie Well-Known Member

    Otay, pal
     
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