When Pronouns Fail

IT WAS A fun story about two weeks ago, and most of the details were pretty clear. A preoperative transsexual and a pudgy teenage boy climbed a tree in Central Park. Several sex acts occurred.

As if you had to ask, the incident made all the dailies.

Apparently, though, choosing pronouns for preoperative transsexuals isn't covered in J-school or the AP handbook. Newsday sidestepped the issue altogether by referring to the "other person" and noted that this "other person" was "described by police as a preoperative transsexual." Later in the article, they let witness Bill Kinnarney, 58, of Harlem, assume that responsibility by printing his description of a mysterious creature that "has breasts and male equipment below."

The editors at the New York Times were more specific yet just as muddled, describing a "32-year-old man with feminine breasts." But at least they could commit. At the Times, the perp was definitely a "him" and "he" and a "man."

Not surprisingly, the New York Post had the most cruel fun with the pronoun confusion, describing a "pre-op transsexual and 'her' male lover." The quotation marks, you see, carry the weight of a thousand newsroom snickers.

Finally, there's the Daily News. After running a couple of admittedly funny puns about the "transgender tree-hugger," they wrote themselves into a corner, and it seemed they must either repeat an ambiguity or pick a pronoun. But no! Instead of committing, they chose a third option: awkwardness. They referred instead to "the older of the couple."

The next week, incidentally, the Daily News ran a 154-word follow-up about the pre-op turning down a plea bargain deal. Of those 154 words, 10 were "his," "him" or "he."

Add that to the stylebook, Daily News copy editor.