Journamalism Question

I'm guessing it's a way to more precisely establish indentity. In other words... there could be several Tallulah Johnstone Black's, but probably only one 47 year old one in Waterloo.

I've puzzled about this, says boring old fart, 99. I assume it's a way flagging names so that a sub-editor can quickly find them and check the spelling

I don't know, but I suspect Tallulah Jones, 47, will be regarded differently by the readers than Tallulah Jones, 97, or Tallulah Jones, 17 (or even 27). So it could be sort of probability or reliability indicator, maybe?

I think there's three reasons, really.

First, it's a way to identify people, like dr. dave says. And not only in a larger community; if you put an age to John Diddledums of Dungheap Commons you'll know if it's the father or his son, depending on the age. As such, I'm willing to bet this practice is more common in small-area newspapers than in national ones.

Second, it can be genuinely important information, even if you know nobody involved. If Barry Balkins of Bumbleshire confidently states that "I really don't think Joanne Jenkins has the stature or the experience to fairly represent our community in Parliament", it makes a real difference to the weight of the statement if Barry is 54 or 14.

And third, adding the age helps people visualize the person as they are stating the quote. That increases the impression of "human touch" and presence, which is the whole point of these quotes to begin with. When you read that Bertram Sloughwaithe has said that "There's far too much coddling around, take my word for it. Get those good-for-nothings out of the projects and into the army; that'll straighten them out", and find out he's 76 and "Gen. Maj., Ret." you can practically see the handlebar moustache bristling and cane twitching in his hand as his small Yorkshire terrier nervously watches

Much more annoyingly, women are almost always listed with their number of children. Men are listed with their occupation. It's a cultural thing. A man derives value from what he does. A woman derives value from her children.

Because our culture is rapidly changing, one's age is an important frame of cultural reference. Another is that there are differences in stages of adult life. Ages 18, 25, 35 and 55 typically have different concerns.

"But that's a bunch of prejudicial malarkey," said some person, of indeterminate gender and age, from some town.

As a card-carrying journlist, I suggest:

(1) "How old are you?" is an easy question, likely to get an answer, easy to show the editor that you asked at least 1 question.

(2) It does indeed bias the reader. What a 99-year-old says about the social impact of airplanes, I'll pay attention to. What he/she says about hip-hop, I'll not expect to be persuaded.

(3) The women questioned are often described physically (petite, blonde) or fashionably (wearing a lime-green gown). The men are rarely (except in crime or sports) described thus (rugged, in a blue-pinstriped suit).

(4) In Screenplay Writing 101, the student is told to avoid long descriptions of characters. "SIFYN" = Save It For Your Novel. Instead, the preferred format is:

Enter Hilbert, 38.
Enter Pericles, Wet.
Exit, pursued by a bear.

Enter Hilbert, 38.
Enter Pericles, Wet.
Exit, pursued by a bear.

So far, this screenplay is sounding pretty good.

Thanks, Coin. The play would be named:

The Tragedy of David Hilbert of Konigsberg, and His List of 23 Unsolved Problems

It would star Russell Crowe as David Hilbert.

Shakespeare's stage directions are a must for any theatre student. One that puzzled me, until explained, was from Othello.

The bed, perhaps a curtained four-poster, was probably thrust onto the stage from the door of the tiring-house. Many such stage directions give some idea of Shakespearean practices: "Enter. . . Desdemona in her bed."

Ahhh, so THAT's how she does it.

As Jem Bloomfield has said:

Even if they did not originate with Shakespeare himself, some of the stage directions which have been passed down through the texts are positively intriguing. Shakespearean scholars have puzzled over the direction in Act III, Scene 3 of A Winter's Tale

Antigonus: This is the chase

I am gone forever.

Exit pursued by a bear.

Some critics have argued that the "bear" was obviously another actor in a bear suit - though this would surely have added a tinge of pantomime comedy to what is supposed to be a very serious death-scene. Historical research into the original Globe Theatre shows that it was also used for the Elizabethan sport of bear-baiting, so there could have been real bears kept on the site. On the other hand, how could a real bear be persuaded to chase an actor across the stage and return to its cage afterwards? The old theatrical adage "never work with children or animals" would surely apply to an irritated brown bear! We may never know what that enigmatic bear in the margin really was.

Sometimes stage directions can show a definite touch of wit, a joke never intended to be heard by the audience, but still visible to the reader. A darkly comic moment occurs in Act III, Scene 1 of the revenge tragedy Titus Andronicus, when a messenger enters to tell Titus of the execution of his sons, with the topsy-turvy stage direction:

Enter a messenger with two heads and a hand.

Sources: William Shakespeare: The Complete Works, ed. Wells, Taylor, Jowett, Montgomery (2005); The Empty Space, Peter Brook (1968)