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How can you say that "nobody was under the illusion"? Surely millions of people were -- the newspapers didn't disclose that the name was a pseudonym, and plenty
by kolpa 8y ago
How can you say that "nobody was under the illusion"? Surely millions of people were -- the newspapers didn't disclose that the name was a pseudonym, and plenty of other advice columnists aren't pseudonyms.
- lolc 8y agoInteresting. I guess the difference is she never claimed to be a real person. Though I don't know that. I have a hard time believing that if the question was posed "are you real?" the answer would have been "I'm traveling between conferences."
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- evincarofautumn 8y agoI don’t usually claim to be a real person either, but it’s generally assumed that I am.
- wpietri 8y agoIf you think that's bad, let me tell you about this dude supposedly called "Mark Twain". Beloved American humorist? Or lying liar with pants on fire? You be the judge.
- hoistbypetard 8y agoIt wasn't always printed at the bottom of the column, but it was always disclosed. If someone wanted to talk to the columnist, they didn't correspond at length with journalists under the fake name. Or claim that Abigail Van Buren was unavailable due to travel. Contemporaneous newspaper articles discussing the writers behind the columns are easy to find.[1] [1](https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/18/archives/a-rival-for-ann-landers-and-dear-abby-but-its-in-the-family.html https://www.nytimes.com/1971/05/18/archives/a-rival-for-ann-...)