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Reader says local bloggers just didn’t get it on the whole NYT “couch” thing
Posted By katie allison granju
Michael Silence, Jack Lail and I received a letter today from a reader complaining about the blogging we’ve done in recent days on Allison Glock’s (and I misspelled her name previously - with only one “L” - my apologies) piece on Knoxville in last weekend’s travel section of the New York Times.
This reader essentially says that we owe Ms. Glock an apology because her piece was highly complimentary of Knoxville, and we chose to nitpick her first sentence.
First of all, I am a fan of Allison Glock’s writing, and have been for a long time. She’s a talented reporter, essayist and author, as well as a nice person. And he’s correct that the NYT piece was very sweet on K-town, as I noted when I first mentioned it on my blog.
But the first sentence of her piece is both amusing and also just plain wrong. It reads: “KNOXVILLE is often called “the couch” by the people who live there…. “
It would be different if she had said “Some people refer to Knoxville as “the couch,” or “The term ‘the couch’ might be applied to Knoxville…” or something less factual than what she DID write. Because her assertion is just plain, flat out wrong. Knoxville is simply not “often called ‘the couch’” by people who live here. It’s just not.
Is this nitpicky? Maybe. Is it a tempest in a teapot? Definitely.
No one took the matter seriously - we local bloggers were just having a little fun with the excitement of a New York Times travel feature on Knoxville. I mean, clearly I was just being a bit silly with the whole thing - just look at the ridiculous questions I came up with for this poll on the provenance of the “couch” as a Knoxville nickname.
If I in some way offended Ms. Glock, I apologize. But again, I stand by my own claim that nobody I’ve ever met calls Knoxville “the couch” - either metaphorically or literally. And we do appreciate the nice write-up.
Jun 10th, 2008
