Star-Telegram Connections To Texas, Part 18

One of my 2 readers may remember me making mention of that Fort Worth paper that I continue to read, the constantly shrinking Star-Telegram, and its odd habit of making any possible connection, no matter how remote, to someone in the news, or on TV and Fort Worth or any other town in North Texas.

I've really not understood why this bugs me. Til today's example.

In the TV section, esteemed, likely sometime Pulitzer Prize nominated, writer, Robert Philpot, describing tonight's So You Think You Can Dance, wrote, "Fort Worth's Joshua Allen and Carrolton's Comfort Fedoke continue to represent for North Texas...."

And this, about tonight's Bravo show, Sheer Genius, Frisco's Daniel Lewis and Dallas' Matthew Tully continue to cut on this hairstyling competition..."

Okay. A few day's ago an awful show called The Bachelorette ended on ABC. I read about the finale in the Seattle P-I. A guy from the Seattle zone city of Kirkland, was one of the final two. And a guy from Breckinridge, Colorado.

The P-I's verbiage was like this, "Kirkland account executive, Jason Mesnick.....and Breckinridge, Colorado professional snowboarder, Jesse Csinsak....."

See the difference? The P-I does not describe the local as Kirkland's Jason Mesnick, as if the town possessed the guy. And the P-I identifies where the other guy is from. The P-I does not make it's frame of reference filtered thru a local prisim, instead the P-I just states the facts. One guy is from Kirkland, the other Breckinridge. Neither town possessing either of the guys.

Where, in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, it is always, "Burleson's Kelly Clarkson." Not "Burleson songstress, Kelly Clarkson."

It's like by turning something like this into a possessive, as in "Fort Worth's Joshua Allen," it just comes across as real, I dunno, ultra small townish. And, well, like Lulu said, pathetic.

Now, that I've finally figured out why this verbiage bugs me, I think this will likely be the last time I make note of it. Unless a particularly pathetic, amusing example crops up.