The tabloid

President P.Noy is right. Being criticized is part of the job he got himself into. And its means he has arrived!

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But let P.Noy remind his critics of what Abe Lincoln said about critics: “He has a right to criticize who has a heart to help.”

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And there’s a way to avoid criticism. According to Bob Phillips, my favorite humor writer, “To avoid criticism say nothing, do nothing, and be nothing.”

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I just read an article about tabloid journalism. That’s where our Banat News belongs. Tabloid journalism refers to small-size newspapers, different from what we call the broadsheets.

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When Cindy Jones says she writes some pieces that sizzle in a tabloid, she refers to a small-size newspaper (in this case Banat News) and nothing else. But many, many years ago, the word tabloid didn’t refer to small-format newspapers. It referred to a medicine.

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The word tabloid was born when it was registered as a trademark of a medicine by a British drug company. At the end of the 19th century the word tabloid had acquired a newer meaning. Almost anything small was referred to as tabloid.

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Today, when you hear someone say he’s got a favorite tabloid he’s referring to the newspaper Banat News. Tabloid now is no longer used to describe anything small. So, it’s wrong to say, today, that a man was dumped by his girl because of his tabloid ... Hehe.

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 Before I get accused of pirating information let it be known that I got this info about tabloid from the book “Facts and Fallacies,” a gift from the Brainerd Rotary Club of Minnesota. It’s published by the Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

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Thanks to “Your Longtime Reader” for the get-well-soon card. I don’t know your name, friend, but God knows you. God bless you, too.

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Email: nitzjab@yahoo.com.

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