Sonia Jaffe Robbins, professor of journalism, responded to my desperate plea that she inflict the Banned for Life list on her impressionable young newsies. Sonia’s reply:<\/p>\n
I love your “banned” page. Yes, it goes to my students, immediately.
\nAnd here are my contributions, just off the top of my head (there are
\nmany more deep in my memory bank, and I hope they stay there):<\/p>\n“Approximately 375<\/strong>…” or any exact number. Yes,
\nI know the harried copy editor doesn’t want to write out that number
\nat the beginning of a sentence, but surely there are other ways to
\nrecast.<\/li>\nAnyone on trial who is “found innocent<\/strong>.” No jury
\nfinds the accused innocent; the verdict is “not guilty.”
\nYes, I know the fear of dropping the word “not” and publishing
\n“guilty” instead of “not guilty,” but in these
\ndays of computerized type and layout, that isn’t likely to happen
\nanymore, is it?<\/li>\nInvestigators are always sifting through the rubble<\/strong> after
\nairplane crashes. Please have them do something else.<\/li>\n“It’s a no-brainer<\/strong>.” It certainly is a no-brainer
\nto come up with this phrase. Maybe writers and editors could try using
\ntheir brains to say something else?<\/li>\nAnd the person in the hospital who “fights for life<\/strong>.”<\/li>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sonia Jaffe Robbins, professor of journalism, responded to my desperate plea that she inflict the Banned for Life list on her impressionable young newsies. Sonia’s reply: I love your “banned” page. Yes, it goes to my students, immediately. And here … Continue reading