Those pesky taboos
You can't help but think the Nation's Newspaper of Record could have avoided this one if it hadn't insisted on being so f***ing coy:
An article on June 6 about the Bushwick Open Studios event in Brooklyn misinterpreted a statement by the artist Juniper Alcorn in the process of paraphrasing it to eliminate an obscenity. Ms. Alcorn says that the vulgarity in her manifesto means that she is a feminist who messes around, not that she “sleeps around.”
Here's the corrected version of the paragraph in question:
One of the other artists, Juniper Alcorn, then directed the visitor’s attention to a hall where her art hung, two monochromatic canvases centering on athletic socks thickly encrusted with paint. And Ms. Alcorn — whose bracing artist’s statement explained in essence (using bawdier language) that “Juniper Alcorn is a feminist and messes around accordingly” — said, “The work is Abstract Expressionism meets feminist arts-and-crafts.”
Aside from the bit about putting quotes around (in essence) a paraphrase, maybe the desk should have had a bit more of a talk with this writer about the many virtues of Our Naughty Words.
An article on June 6 about the Bushwick Open Studios event in Brooklyn misinterpreted a statement by the artist Juniper Alcorn in the process of paraphrasing it to eliminate an obscenity. Ms. Alcorn says that the vulgarity in her manifesto means that she is a feminist who messes around, not that she “sleeps around.”
Here's the corrected version of the paragraph in question:
One of the other artists, Juniper Alcorn, then directed the visitor’s attention to a hall where her art hung, two monochromatic canvases centering on athletic socks thickly encrusted with paint. And Ms. Alcorn — whose bracing artist’s statement explained in essence (using bawdier language) that “Juniper Alcorn is a feminist and messes around accordingly” — said, “The work is Abstract Expressionism meets feminist arts-and-crafts.”
Aside from the bit about putting quotes around (in essence) a paraphrase, maybe the desk should have had a bit more of a talk with this writer about the many virtues of Our Naughty Words.
posted by fev at 12:29 PM
2 Comments:
Seriously? They think "F- around" and "F-" mean the same thing?
Messing around with the language like that is just stupid. But why would anyone with a working vocabulary above middle school need to use that word to describe the artistic process? One wonders if the artist is literate enough to understand the correction.
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