Y2K is a coined abbreviation

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On an earlier thread, a newspaper took a story which spoke of Y2K bad news and change it to remove all reference to Y2K

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0013bd

I wrote a email to the website and got back the following:

____________________________

Subject: Y2K

Date: Mon, 12 Jul 1999 16:05:18 -0500

From: lking@omaha.com (King, Larry)

To: xx.xx.com

Mr. Helium,

We often change articles between editions -- those in print and those on line. Y2K is a coined abbreviation that does not appear in most newspapers' style manuals. While one could argue that everyone knows what Y2K means, that is not necessarily the case. In any event, it is not good practice for a newspaper to start using coined terms when individual reporters decide to put them in an article.

Larry King

Executive Editor

_____________________________________

This is why, the Why has disapeared from Y2K. They just do not get it, I was at seveal gatherings throughout the midwest this last week, Y2K? They did not have a clue. There was more news about how to fish than how to prepare for Y2K. I sense a bad thing here, we are going to go up to the wire, somebody is going to yell "FIRE" and there will be a stampede.

"This is not good, This is not Good" Quote from Top Gun as the plane sprials into a crash in the ocean. The point is, we, colectivly may be heading for a crash, but like the lobster put in the ketle, we do not feel the heat.

It will be a long hot summer, and a sprint to the deadline.

Keep the faith.

-- helium (heliumavid@yahoo.com), July 14, 1999

Answers

I JUST emailed this to him:

----------------------------------

Mr. King:

You and your organization go far to justify the contempt currently felt by the American public toward the "infotainment" industry. Obviously your "paper" qualifies as a National Enquirer-style publication. I hope the editing of the Y2K piece (to REMOVE all references to Y2K) garners national attention. I know several people who have submitted this debacle to various national news services and media outlets, including CBS' 60 Minutes.

I SINCERELY hope you lose your job over this issue. Your decision reflects extreme prejudice and ignorance, two qualities that USED TO BE the DEATH of a journalistic career.

-- Dennis (djolson@pressenter.com), July 14, 1999.


I heard today that there was an AP story on this same Nebraska state- patrol incident, and that it too mentioned Y2K. Has anybody seen it?

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), July 14, 1999.

This was done on one of the networks last night in reference to the story of penny shortages attributed elsewhere to Y2K hoarders. Of course TV news is frequently, if not always, emasculated.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), July 14, 1999.

Anyone, that by now, who doesn't know what the acronym "Y2K" means is a fricking idiot and deserves to be toast.

And we don't need the seemingly obligatory paragraph describing what Y2K is before getting into the meat of the article ("Y2K means Year 2000, a computer problem where 2 digit years ...blah blah). Enough already. If someone is still clueless by now, they deserve to be run over. -

-- A (A@AisA.com), July 15, 1999.


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