Who's Your Nanny?
The LA Times is looking out for your delicate sensibilities! (Never mind the fact that your kids are probably talking about teabagging on the playground.) You won't be reading the word "butt" in the LA Times. The writers there are so well-trained in how dull and and girlishly prissy a daily newspaper must be, they pre-edit it out themselves!
I wrote to Augustin Gurza to see why he used the word "derriere" (which stood out like a big red ass) in his piece about "Ask A Mexican" columnist and author Gustavo Arellano. Gurza wrote:
His satirical comedy is a cross between Andrew Dice Clay and Don Rickles. (Ooops, did I just date myself?) The problem is, one man's joke is another man's insult. Besides, I was born in Mexico (unlike The Mexican, who's actually an Anaheim native) but I rarely recognize myself in his answers: I don't wear street clothes while swimming in the ocean, I'm not especially attracted to women with large derrieres and I'm not a big fan of Morrissey.
"Big butts" would have been the natural thing to write -- "I'm not attracted to women with big butts." I wrote to Gurza to ask him about his alternative choice of words:
From: AdviceAmy@aol.com
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 11:11 AM
To: agustin.gurza@latimes.com
Subject: a question from your piece on Arellano
Dear Mr. Gurza,
Are you not allowed to use the word "butt" in the LA Times? Why use the word "derriere"? I look forward to your reply.Best,-Amy Alkon
Amy Alkon
The Advice Goddess
Syndicated Columnist
in over 100 newspapers
www.advicegoddess.com
now blogging daily
To Gurza's credit, he responded -- unlike Washington Post columnist Colbert I. King, who I asked via e-mail about why he used "one expert" without actually naming that expert, and who that "one expert" might be. Gurza wrote:
In a message dated 6/8/07 4:47:51 PM, Agustin.Gurza@latimes.com writes:Greetings:
Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to you regarding your inquiry about word use. In this case, I just used the less offensive derriere to avoid a possible intervention from an editor who may take umbrage to a more vulgar or colloquial term, such as "butt." Probably either word would have worked, but in a family newspaper you learn to pick your battles and fight for stronger language when it's more crucial to the story.
Hope this helps.
Agustin Gurza
Los Angeles Times
202 W. First Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
And I wrote back to Gurza:
Thanks for writing back. If anything offends me, it's the use of "derriere." I'm reminded of when Dan Neil spoke to the features editors' conference, and said he was censored from using "Do me!" Dailies are cooking their own goose with this prissiness. The way I see it, the only battle you should have to fight is with yourself, to make your writing kick ass. (Uh, derriere?) Best,-Amy AlkonP.S. If you're up for a little fun, read the one piece I ever wrote for the LAT and see if you can guess what got me banned from the paper.
Love that piece, it brought me to your site/blog so many moons ago.
First Guess: Tits in the police station?
Second Guess: "Speeding music"?
Crid at June 9, 2007 5:45 AM
I'm guessing "near-sexual thrill" or "pain in the ass."
Melissa G at June 9, 2007 6:46 AM
I think the LA Times is offending their American readers by using a word in a language that is NOT American. To add insult to injury, it is in that un-patriotic language French. Why should these poor readers be forced to look at words in another language?! It could cause the unravelling of the fabric of society!
I'm going to LA Times website right now and make a complaint, and I'll get all of the other soccer-moms that I know to do the same thing.
Chrissy at June 9, 2007 6:53 AM
Crid: Exactly right. Tits in the police station.
Amy Alkon at June 9, 2007 7:34 AM
Tits in the police station sounds hot to me.
Self-monitoring on the radio is more widespread since the FCC increased the penalty for a single offense to something in the $300,000 ballpark. It's kind of ridiculous. I remember listening to Riku Matsuda's show one morning on KPFK, and a few times her guest had to write naughty bits down on paper and ask "Can I use this word?" But surely "butt" wasn't a problem. And "tits in the police station" would've caused a giant PQ to shutter throughout the southland.
Lena at June 9, 2007 8:50 AM
An engineer once told me (after used the word "rectum" on Mark Cooper and Cathy Gori's show) "We don't have rectums on NPR."
Amy Alkon at June 9, 2007 9:25 AM
Who wants to talk about rectums anyway? Do they have hot holes on NPR?
Lena at June 9, 2007 9:41 AM
I don't know about you, but when I think about Mark Cooper, "hot hole" isn't the first term that comes to mind.
Amy Alkon at June 9, 2007 9:49 AM
One of my least favorite journalism tics is when a reporter pretends he was someone else:
A few days ago, Alkon showed a visitor how her advice column is written.
When Alkon showed me... would be so much more elegant -- not to mention less pretentious.
Not that I'm a big fan of first person, except in blogs and the like, but sometimes it's the easiest and most accurate way to go.
Next: When a "mainstream" paper doesn't want to reveal where it found a juicy story from, say, the Enquirer or some other unreliable source: According to published reports...
TE at June 9, 2007 11:20 AM
When NPR wants to lead with something baseless (never more than 3 to 5 times / week): "In Washington, questions are being raised about the...."
Crid at June 9, 2007 11:25 AM
Also, I should defend Marc Cooper's holes... I've never met the man, but he was one of the most listenable people that NPR in LA ever had. His blog is good and casual, and he's a good read whether you agree with him about stuff or not.
Crid at June 9, 2007 11:40 AM
Also, I should defend Marc Cooper's holes
You and Lena have more in common every day!
Amy Alkon at June 9, 2007 12:29 PM
I...like...big derrieres and I cannot lie!
...nope, doesn't work a-TALL.
marion at June 9, 2007 5:07 PM
Marc Cooper doesn't understand the healthcare system in LA at all (unlike Amy's old friend at New Times, Tony Ortega), but I agree with Crid: He's always worth reading. And even though the sound of his voice is a bit grating, I listened to Radio Nation just about every week when it was still on KPFK on Friday mornings.
Lena at June 9, 2007 9:12 PM
Exactly... He has a small-frame nasal voice like Larry Mantle (& me), but with a lot more political energy. He's so patient with conservatism that sometimes I feel like one of us is Uncle Tomming, as when hillbillies admire Jesse Jackson for telling black people that they need to improve their own lot in life.
Crid at June 9, 2007 11:30 PM
Actually, I can't remember if I told you this, but Tony Ortega is now kicking ass as the editor of The Village Voice. And Mark Cooper used to be at New Times, too. He and Jill Stewart used to go at it -- be really critical of each other -- within the paper's pages. It was great.
Amy Alkon at June 10, 2007 4:13 AM
(unlike The Mexican, who's actually an Anaheim native)
Uhhhh, no, try Santa Ana. They're close, but not the same.
LYT at June 11, 2007 1:25 AM
There's an advert (or there was ... maybe still is) for the Mégane car, based on its "derriere" and accompanied by pictures of peaches wobbling and fat women shaking their asses (can I say that Amy)?
I found the whole thing so bad I actually complained about it ... the cars are ugly as shit too (or should that be sh*t). I didn't approve of soft porn being used to sell a car in case you are wondering what my complaint was ... I'm just an old prude at heart you see.
Norman at June 11, 2007 4:09 AM
You can say absolutely anything here. Only afraid of Islamist terrorists, not afraid of words at all.
Amy Alkon at June 11, 2007 6:13 AM
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