Dumbing Down

[beenee]

I really think that referring to Iain Duncan Smith as 'IDS' in the News repeatedly is a sad sign of the times - this is a national political leader not a page 3 model we're talking about!

[FredPuli]

His name is too long for headline writers and is not readily abbreviated. It is quite a 'mouthful' to use in speech too . 'I D S' is not without precedent or cachet. Three US Presidents, F D R (oosevelt), J F K (ennedy)and L B J (ohnson) are and were known by their initials. The practice was certainly not disresepectful in their cases. Incidentally, which page three model is known by her initials?

[sft42]

Ex National Leader at that.......wonder if his replacement will be known as MH then?

[Quizmonster]

It might have been better if he'd stuck to his actual name at birth...George Smith. The middle 'ID' bits were mere frippery, apparently. It seems the 'Ian' was spelt thus and not as 'Iain', which some people rather absurdly believe to be 'grander' than the three-letter version. And the 'Duncan' is just a middle name, not part of a (posh) hyphenated double-barrelled one. Perhaps as common-or-garden 'George Smith' he'd never have made it as Tory leader anyway!

[straz]

I think Tory Central Office encouraged the use of IDS as it believe it sounded more dynamic & linked George to JFK & FDR (as previously mentioned by FredPuli).

[andy hughes]

It is annoying - all the more so for being a blatent attempt to make a boring, if fundamentally decent man into somebody windswept and interesting. As the nation knew from the start, and the Tory Party has finally got round to facing, you can call an ass a horse, but it doesn't shorten its ears!

[darth vader]

i don't get the reference to P3 models.... besides which he is an EX national political leader, just to be pedantic.

[beenee]

I know what youre saying FredPuli, but I doubt JFK was mentioned as such in news reports in the 60s. I don't care of what people say on the streets, but when this sort of reductionism reaches serious news mediam it's just a shame. Maybe its just me being old-fashioned but some standards should not be dropped.

[straz]

His na

[straz]

Ooop!! Finger Trouble.I'll try again. Isn't his name George Ian (as apposed to Iain) Duncan Smith?

[Quizmonster]

Dear Straz, Have a glance at Answer 3 above. Cheers