Ask Elsa

Misnomer?

Q I thought the definition of a massacre was the act or an instance of killing a number of usually helpless or unresisting human beings under circumstances of atrocity or cruelty.

It would appear that the crowd in Orangeburg was unruly. Was this really a massacre? Excessive use of force, perhaps. But a massacre? Henry.

A You are not the only person to say the name is an exaggeration of the events, but that is, in fact, the name of the event. The authorities at the time were calling it "an incident." Blacks, shocked and angry following the killings thought that was minimizing the brutality and began referring to it as the Orangeburg Massacre. Subsequently, Jack Bass named his book "The Orangeburg Massacre."

Some stories in The Post and Courier have included a phrase that disarms the argument. For example, Adam Parker said, "...the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre, as it has come to be called..."

Huh?

Q This concerns Saturday's 1B picture of the First Tech Challenge at South Carolina State. What does the headline "Domo arigato" mean? When did we begin to use a foreign language for headlines? Peggy, Ruffin.

A I was scratching my head, too, trying to understand the phrase in the context of a robot-making competition. I learned that a group named Styx recorded a song called "Mr. Roboto" in 1983. It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Domo arigato," which is a Japanese phrase meaning "thank you very much," is in the song's chorus.

Occasionally, a reference to a movie, book or song works, but the words have to be widely identifiable. The editor who came up with this headline assumed that song was more familiar than it is.

Elsa McDowell, public editor, welcomes questions or comments about the paper's news coverage. Call 937-5626 or e-mail her at askelsa@postandcourier.com. Visit her blog at www.post scripts.typepad.com/elsa/.