The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style_9

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The Penguin Dictionary of American English Usage and Style_9 spokesman 395 Although most writers do not display the reporting period on Sept. 30, saidsuch voracity for bad language, that Steven M. ———, spokesman forclumsy barbarism, “s——,” is polluting the Committee to Conserve thethe English tongue. Courts. . . . A radical weekly uses it regularly But Janet ———, spokesperson foralong with a grotesque plural version: Crime Victims for Court Reform and Californians to Defeat Rose Bird, said Spokespeople for most of the momentum is on the side of the anti- groups he attacks agree that his fac- Bird campaign. tual research is often . . . accurate. One of each pair is a “-man” and the The correct word, of course, is other is a “-person”? Nonsense. Each isspokesman, plural: spokesmen. A a spokesman.spokesman, i.e., one who speaks for an-other or others, may be either male or fe- 2. “-WOMAN”male. See -MAN-, MAN. Some journalists and broadcasters The three sample sentences below all who cannot abide the gracelessness anduse the correct word. The first (referring ignorance represented by that illegiti-to Mrs. Clinton) is from a television fo- mate word are drawn to another three-rum on PBS. The other two are from The syllable word:New York Times. In Washington, the State Depart- She’s no longer a national spokesman ment’s spokeswoman, Margaret for him [President Clinton]. Tutwiler, said Kohl was “responding to the deepest aspirations of his Kathy Pherson, a spokesman for people for German unity.” the C.I.A., refused in a telephone in- terview to confirm or deny the C.I.A.’s “The Sandinistas . . . realize their involvement in training or advising brand of communism is bankrupt and the Honduran police and army. obsolete,” said the State Department spokeswoman, Margaret Tutwiler. Justice Brennan, 82 years old, hit his head and received stitches to close the If you consider it necessary to describe wound, said Kathy Arberg, a the Brontë sisters as “authoresses” and spokesman for the court. “poetesses,” you will probably want to use “spokeswoman.” The Times and Associated Press style Modified in the manner of the finalmanuals instruct staff members not to example however, it could be mislead-use “spokesperson.” ing: The two passages below, from otherpapers, are embodiments of illogic: . . . Some outsiders have also said that as the chief spokeswoman, she rein- At its Tuesday/22 general meeting, forced the image of the White House the club will host White Panther as a preserve of the young and inexpe- spokesman Tom ——— and a rienced. spokesperson for the mayor. “Chief spokeswoman” could suggest . . . Only $400,000 worth of that ad- that she was the chief only of the White vertising was aired before the end of House’s female spokesmen. The in-396 stafftended meaning probably was that she galaxy, with its 100 billion suns, is inde-served as the chief spokesman for the pendent and self-sufficient. . . . ”White House; that is, the person in In both instances, stars would becharge of speaking for the president. preferable to “suns.” A star is a celestial The Associated Press manual con- body that emits its own light. A sun is adones “spokeswoman.” The Times man- star that is the center of a system of plan-ual says to use spokesman for both men ets, the way the Sun, the star closest toand women. us, heads our solar system. (The Sun is often spelled with a lower-case s: “The sun suddenly emerged from the clouds.”STAFF. A recording tells callers to a In an astronomical context, a capital Scity library, “All of our staff are helping may be appropriate.)others.” It is not wrong, though it has a A planet is a large celestial body thatBritish flavor. Staff is would be the more ...