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AP deletes ‘the French' tweet and apologises after it is widely mocked
The Associated Press, the biggest news agency in the United States, has apologised after it was ridiculed for warning journalists against referring to "the French".
The AP stylebook Twitter account had recommended writers avoid using "the" in phrases like "the disabled, the poor and the French".
It said this could be dehumanising.
The French embassy responded by briefly changing its name to the "Embassy of Frenchness in the United States".
"We just wondered what the alternative to the French would be," Pascal Confavreux, the embassy spokesman, told the New York Times. "I mean, really."
The original AP tweet received more than 20 million views and 18,000 retweets before being deleted.
It was widely mocked on social media.
The writer Sarah Haider joked that there was "nothing as dehumanizing as being considered one of the French" and that a better term was "suffering from Frenchness".
Ian Bremmer, a political scientist, suggested "people experiencing Frenchness" as an alternative.
After it deleted the tweet, the AP stylebook said its reference to French people was "inappropriate" but that it "did not intend to offend".
"Writing French people, French citizens, etc., is good. But "the" terms for any people can sound dehumanising and imply a monolith rather than diverse individuals," it wrote.
"That is why we recommend avoiding general 'the' labels such as the poor, the mentally ill, the wealthy, the disabled, the college-educated," it wrote.
For example, a better term than "the poor" was "people with incomes below the poverty line", it added.
Lauren Easton, the vice president of AP corporate communications, told the French daily newspaper Le Monde: "The reference to 'the French' as well as the reference to 'the college educated' is an effort to show that labels shouldn't be used for anyone, whether they are traditionally or stereotypically viewed as positive, negative or neutral."
The AP stylebook is considered one of the best style guides for journalists and other writers, particularly in the US.
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US town's toilets-on-skis race is flush with success
US town's toilets-on-skis race is flush with success
The small town of Conconully, Washington, has had the tradition of racing outhouse for 42 years.
The annual competition takes place on Main Street. People gather from across eastern Washington to watch.
Participants build the outhouses out of wood and are required to have toilet, a loo roll, and a competitor inside equipped with a helmet.
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They say justice delayed is justice denied, but after several decades, John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revivial finally has ownership of his own music.
Capping one of the longest and nastiest legal battles in music business history, John Fogerty has gained worldwide control of the publishing rights to his Creedence Clearwater Revival songs, more than 50 years after the songs were first released.
Fogerty has acquired a majority interest in the global publishing rights to his song catalog with the group, which includes “Proud Mary,” “Fortunate Son,” “Bad Moon Rising,” “Up Around the Bend,” “Have You Ever Seen Rain” and others from Concord for an undisclosed amount, a rep for the company confirmed
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They should use lottery to get a new speaker after x attempts of unsuccessful votes
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makes you wonder how on earth did the republicans take the house from the dems.Leave a comment:
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Why this congressman is using Superman comic for swearing-in
Incoming US congressman Robert Garcia will be sworn in using the US Constitution - and a Superman comic.
In a tweet on Tuesday, he said it is one of three items he will use that "mean a lot to me personally".
The other two are a photo of his parents, who he said were lost to Covid-19, and his citizenship certificate.
Mr Garcia is still waiting to take the oath of office, however, after Republicans failed to elect a speaker.
A Democrat from Long Beach, California, and the city's former mayor before being elected to the House of Representatives, he has a record of sharing his graphic novel fandom on Twitter.
"Anyone who understands comics knows that comics are an essential part of American fiction," he tweeted in November. "And the lessons learned are invaluable."
Mr Garcia - who will take the oath using a vintage Superman comic from 1939 - cites lessons that are distinctive to his upbringing as both an immigrant and a member of the LGBT community.
The congressman-elect was brought to the US from Peru by his mother when he was five years old. He is openly gay and married.
In 2021, after DC Comics announced the new Superman would be bisexual, Mr Garcia tweeted: "I became a Superman fan as a kid because I related to him. An immigrant, a sense of justice, and a secret identity."
Although using the Superman comic may be a bit unorthodox when taking the oath of office, technically it's not illegal, per Article IV of the US Constitution. The Article states, in part, that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States".
As a result, "there is no required text upon which an incoming officeholder must take their oath", said Jane Campbell, president of the United States Capitol Historical Society.
Throughout history, Ms Campbell said, newly elected members of Congress have used different texts, including Hebrew Scripture, Jewish religious texts, copies of the Quran and the Bhagavad Gita (the Hindu sacred text).
In 2007, Democrat Keith Ellison from Minnesota, the first Muslim elected to Congress, took the oath using a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson.
Many of the mementos, like Jefferson's Quran and the Superman comic, are loaned by the Library of Congress for this occasion. Other props loaned by the Library for a ceremonial swearing-in include Rosa Park's pocket Bible and the Biblia Hebraica, the first complete Hebrew Bible published in America.
But no comic books, yet.
As the vote for speaker of the House concludes its sixth fruitless round, the world may have to wait a little longer before Superman and Mr Garcia can break the congressional record books.
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