An Open Letter to Everyone at My Work and Everyone Else I Copyedit For
Dear Everyone &c.,
What's with leaving out someone's middle initial when said initial is clearly an important part of not only the person's name but also his or her identity? Despite what you may think (you do think, don't you?) Luis Rodriguez is not the same as Luis J. Rodriguez. Ursula Le Guin is not the same as Ursula K. Le Guin (and there's a space in her last name, too, by the way). You wouldn't ever call Michael J. Fox simply Michael Fox, would you? Well, not unless you were "in the biz" and a "pompous ass" who liked to namedrop, in which case you would probably call him Mike Fox to impress that bikini model standing over there by the pool. But I digress.
Why don't you people understand that middle initials are as much a part of a person's name as first and sur are? Are you guilty initial-leaver-outters really that lazy? Or do you simply not care? Or are you just stupid? Being an editor as well as a middle-initial-user myself, I'll admit I'm speaking with bias. (And being that I'm really really hungry and therefore cranky, I'm also speaking with smoke coming out of my ears and eyes glowing red like firey coals from hell.) But please, if you care for me at all (and you must, oh you must!), have some respect for the little guy (or I or Y) stuck in the middle, K?
Loves,
LKM
This rant sponsored by PMS™ and "The Headache that Took Manhatten". Coming soon to a theater near you!
Ranting is good. Ranting sponsored by PMS or any other female condition is even BETTER! I still don't know where those damned fruit flies are coming from, but will keep you posted as I could use that lead pipe on those freaking fruit fly kneecaps.
I know what you mean. My managing editor has drilled it into our heads to always ask sources their middle initials. And we use them too.
bex
bexgirl.blogspot.com
I wish that people would stop getting amnesia about people like me who never use their first name on a daily basis at all. I go by my middle name and I have been this way every single day for 43 years. It started on the day that I was born.