etymythology

[thnidu]

Ben Zimmer writes in his column "Word Routes"

The Mystery of "Cronkiters"

Last week, after the death of Walter Cronkite, I wrote about how two words seemed irrevocably linked to the great newsman: avuncular and anchorman. Obituaries claimed that the term anchorman was first coined to refer to Cronkite, but as I wrote in Slate, this isn't exactly

Comments

[wcg]

Interesting. So apparently the story goes back to a time before the internet. I wonder if the way this tale spread is a consequence of all the news agencies having canned obits for Uncle Walter sitting around in their archives, just waiting for the day of his passing? Given his long life, I'd bet those were written 20 years ago and never subjected to the sort of fact checking that is routine today.

[thnidu]

Etymythology is probably almost as old as language itself.

[keristor]

"the sort of fact checking that is routine today"

You mean "do a Google search"? That seems to be about the limit of fact checking these days (if they actually bother to go that far). I'm not even referring to the tabloids, I'm looking at formerly respected newspapers (and TV and radio stations) and their level of fact checking.