« Ambient Findability | Main | Sony discontinues Aibo, Qrio »
January 12, 2006
Cow A is not Cow B
Reuters has been following an interesting story from the west. A cow, a heifer named Molly, headed for Mickey's Packing Plant in Great Falls, Montana, jumped the fence, broke out of the gate, ran away, swam across the Missouri River, and is seeking asylum. (When good things happen to good cows, Reuters, January 11, 2005, [click])
The article includes a photograph of a cow dated September 9, 2005. Though this is a nice cow, in fact a pretty cow, it's a Vermont Cow, not an Montana cow. When S.I. Hayakawa (Language in Thought and Action, 1955) observed that "Cow A is not Cow B", it was taken as a weakness of human language; I doubt he intended it to serve as a rule of journalistic practice.
Note added as proof. A similar use of generic photographs to illustrate an article appears in the story about a high school student in Missouri who was barred from a school dance for wearing a kilt, hence "violating a dress code." Folks of Scottish heritage voiced objections, and the school board apologized. Kilt-wearing boy wins apology, Reuters, Thu Jan 12, 2006 11:16 AM ET164. URl
Posted by sjc at January 12, 2006 12:30 PM
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)