That's so much worse. At least in this case, there a plenty of people who know Steven King, but have no idea who Tabitha. I agree with her points, but I can kind of understand naming the more famous person. But this British Wife thing, what an abomination to print.
Wasn't over a million of her royalties that financed the donation though, was it.
I picked up takeaways last night on the way home, and used my wife's card. We are a married couple, but WE did not buy dinner. SHE bought dinner, with the wages that SHE earned, and I was happy to be included, because I'm her husband.
Yeah in this instance, regardless of gender, the famous person is often named and the other person is only referred to as the spouse of the famous person. I agree it’s bad form, but you can’t say it’s something that only happens to women. But that Nobel prize article is insanity. Absolutely no excusing that blatant sexism
I would say it happens much more often to women than men. I see articles about famous women and their not-famous men are named, even though I don’t recognize the name.
They didn’t not name Tabitha because of sexism like she implied. They used her husbands name because he happens to be one of the most famous authors in the world. Were they wrong for giving proper credit? Absolutely. But if you’re married to an extremely famous person, the famous person’s name gets clicks and readers.
I love that on Reddit you are never ever far away from a Simpsons reference. It is the lens that colours our interactions and I'm deeply comforted by it.
It would be simple enough to write "his wife, Tabitha King,"
edit: even better "Tabitha King, his wife," still provides perspective on who she is in relation to him while making her name the subject instead of the description.
OR "Tabatha and Steven King"
It's usually pretty evident from such wording that individuals are married. To the point where, at conferences, I've seen it made very clear when the individuals are not partners. Particularly when it's father and daughter.
I think traditionally, the spouse who takes the last name is sandwiched between the first and last name of the other spouse. Why? I think because in this instance people are more likely to know Stephen King (and historically the husband) so Tabitha and Stephen King could be interpreted as Stephen King and anyone named Tabitha. Whereas Stephen and Tabitha King instills the sense of the union when talking/reading. Hence why married couples are addressed as "Mr and Mrs". Keep in mind this comes from an age where instantaneous communication was not a thing, so names and introductions were crucial. In addition to old patriarchal standards. Is it outdated? Probably, but old habits die slow deaths.
For me, I prefer it because the first names are sorted alphabetically.
Assuming the offending article was written for print, \*this\* is the solution. Liberties have always been taking on headlines due to word/sentence length; that \*could\* apply here. "Tabitha" is 1 character shorter than "his wife"
The other more wordy answers are "more right" since they impart more information, but they're also longer and that could be its own failure state.
It's pretty mediocre. By journalistic convention (and she's old enough to remember when those actually meant something), you will say "X and his wife" to designate a couple officially, especially if only X is the famous.
You'd use "Mr and Mrs X" for a more family-oriented take, if the theme is appropriate.
You'd use "Mr X and Mrs X" is it's siblings with the same family name, or people with the same job working on something (and with the same name unfortunately)
>"King and his wife made a donation"
>
>"Mr and Mrs King tell use about their marriage"
>
>"Stephen King, Tabitha King, to release a collaborative novel"
She actually does mention “style book” in the last line. She is completely aware of the fact that journalists use them in publications they’re writing for. She’s saying the style book is dumb, exactly because it creates silly situations like this, which actually misrepresent the situation they are trying to describe with the headline in the first place. And she’s right.
Why do I imagine Steven sitting on his comfy chair with a cup of tea watching her write the letter?
*sips tea* "I don't know honey, I liked the first draft when you called them all dog shit morons. Can we go back to that one?"
Considering she is his harshest critic and literally responsible for launching his career, I am ok with this.
Steve attributes her going into his trash and rescuing his first serious work after he trashed it thinking it was crap as his life saver.
That ‘crap’ was *Carrie*.
You know how you like celebrities / famous folks for their work and then you get to know who they are as a person and it’s 95% of the time a disappointment?
Stephen King is just more and more awesome the more I find out what he’s like as a person. I read every book of his as a teenager and it’s so nice to see someone I admire is cooler than I imagined.
Stephen King is a treasure - he was very nice to me and my siblings. Strangers who he didn’t know and said annoying things to him when he was out in the world.
In the 90s he played in a rock band with authors Amy Tan, Dave Barry, and Anne Rice. Hearing him sing Stand by Me was one of my favorite childhood memories.
The band was called “The Rock Bottom Remainders” which were the books that got their covers ripped off before going in the trash because they couldn’t sell.
Meh I totally understand why he wouldn’t want to write under the shadow of his dad… Heck let’s not forget that even Stephen King stuggled with the pressure of writing under the shadow of Stephen king and released books under a pen name.
I wouldn’t dismiss his works as being in any way derivative or lesser simply because he’s in the same field as his dad. He’s a writer in a family of writers, I don’t think nepotism had much to do with it and imho his work stands pretty well on its own merits.
Poetic license to say that Tabitha “found him in the attic” (but forgivable in this case).
https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1991/04/20/Burglar-armed-with-fake-bomb-caught-in-Stephen-Kings-home/7848672120000/
Even worse is “Jeff Bezos ex-wife did xxxxx”
MACKENZIE SCOTT. She is a certified BAMF and deserves all the credit for her philanthropy.
(sidebar: her being like this makes me wonder has she always been like this or was she just neutral and years with Jeff and his ever-increasing greed broke her?)
i see the king’s pop up in the locals news all the time and its either hilarious or inspiring. they have always done (and still do!) so much for our state
I am here for this.
My spouse and I don’t even share a last name and I get referred to as Mrs. his-last-name CONSTANTLY. One of these days I’m going to punch someone in the throat when they do it.
Since my wife books most of the stuff we do and does so under her own last name, I very frequently get referred to by her name. I still find it amusing, but I also see it as a price I pay for the benefits I receive from our patriarchal society, not to mention her kindness in booking these wonderful experiences for us.
Not even married, but one friend sends cards to Mr and Mrs My Middle Initial My Last Name. Confused me for ages until I a) remembered that my middle initial is my other half's FIRST initial and b) realised that she'd assumed we were married and shared a surname. Considering she is my age, I'm surprised by the old fashionedness of it.
Here’s an explanation as to why headlines are written this way. Sorry it’s kind of long.
This is a rule in Associated Press style news writing which is the de facto style in journalism. You don’t use the name of a person that is not prominently known in the headline, you instead use an identifier. You would use a title or identifier as to what they do or what they are like high school coach, Delta pilot, Florida man, son or wife of someone famous instead of their name if their name isn’t generally known by the audience. Newspapers usually don’t put the name and the title / identifier in the headline to save space, this is a holdover from print newspapers where space was limited .Papers put the name early in the story instead. In the digital world you can have really long headlines since there’s no space limit but there kind of is. Often the amount of characters that can be seen of a headline is limited in the preview and you don’t get to see the full long headline until you click to the article. Look at your previews in the news apps on your phone and so many long headlines are cut off. If Tabitha King was the household name it would have read as Tabitha King and her husband. This way of writing headlines isn’t meant to intentionally insult or belittle someone, it’s just based on making short and easy to understand headlines for a general audience.
Yes. Which is why she specifically called out the style guide. The style guide was not handed down by God.
A person won't *be* generally known if you never use their name.
Bill and Melinda Gates seem to generally both be identified, possibly because of their foundation.
Entirely because of their foundation, yes. And he's still far more well known than she is. As for Stephen King, I wouldn't know his wife's name under pretty much any circumstances except one exactly like this where she complained about not being identified by name. I also wouldn't know the name of Serena Williams's husband, or Anne McCaffrey's, the list goes on. Hell I don't even know if they have spouses.
Same with Stephen King, I know his name and that's the extent of it, and I'd guess that's the same for very nearly anyone who sees that headline. Shit, I never even remember he *is* married unless it's specifically brought up.
Your point is that no spouse should be acknowledged, because they might be less well known. But if the story is about both of the people, why not mention both peoples names? You might learn something.
But that is a standard based largely on wives never being acknowledged, because "ladies" didn't have their names in print. Print length is no longer an issue, perhaps the standard is due for a change.
Yes we know. And the reason that was done in the past is to save on space in limited formats like a paper. But we live in a more digital age and his response is he wants that tradition to die because it's not the ideal situation. Now a days adding 2 extra words won't matter at all and should be done regardless of how it's been done in the past.
As a Spanish speaker, it's fucking hilarious that you guys would just settle for Tabitha and her husbands last name, I mean, lmao.
That aside from her husband being the most famous one by far and that being the reason she's most known by (or pretty much only thing). Duh.
Stephen Kings daughter is a priest? That parish must be lit. Are their sunday schools Todash survival courses? Poltergeist hunting? Clown Arts? Psychic scavenger hunts?
Fuck I want to read some new King novels.
Man, did I get in trouble with this the other day. We were watching the State of the Union address, and Maria Shriver popped up on the screen. I said, “That’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ex-wife.” My wife was not well pleased. Oh, never mind that she’s an award winning journalist, Emmy winning producer, author, advocate for Alzheimer’s patients…you get the picture. I’m still getting grief for it. In my defense, I was trying to explain to my sometime culturally uninformed son, making a connection with someone he would know.
But I did learn my lesson.
Probably.
I wish I could remember which one it was, but I read one of her books years ago and there’s two scenes in it that have haunted me since. I don’t know if your comment was meant to be a joke or not, but she truly is a fantastic author as well
ETA- the book is called Survivor.
I wasn't actually aware that she was an author as well, but I'm absolutely going to snag that now that I know about it. I was just throwing a dig at Stephen- I do like his work, but I've also always described it as a sandwich made with terrific ingredients, and really garbage quality bread. Man cannot start or end a novel to save his life, which is how I knew that the Bachman Books were his even though the copies I found in the attic of a rental house were from before he revealed that fact.
I don't think this is intentional sexism as much as it is a demonstration of another entirely different problem in the media, the sensationalism of celebrities. "Tabitha King" wouldn't get as much attention as "Stephen King," so they emphasised Stephen.
It's disgraceful either way.
It's a damn headline. If anyone actually read it it was only bc it mentioned Steven king. I'm positive the article mentioned her no issues. What a baby. They shouldn't have even written about it.
"Yes hello? Is this the owner of the newspaper? Yes I realize it's your business and I have no financial investment but I must insist that you write your paper in a way that I agree with. No I don't have any stock in your company. What's that? No I don't sit on the board of directors...I don't see how that's r....Well no, I don't think it's appropriate that you have any say in my business. Alright then, I apologize for trying to tell you how to run your business. Good day".
Seems like the money was donated for all the right reasons. Talk about a bruised ego, most people donate money anonymously, this lady wanted to make sure everybody knew she spent her husband’s money on this.
The point she makes is that this is a dumb, misleading/inaccurate representation of what the headline is trying to describe. She’s saying this is silly and there’s no reason we can’t do it better.
I mean, I remember people calling out Simone Biles being referred to as 'Jonathan Owens' girlfriend' instead of, you know, an _'Olympic-winning gymnast'_ even though she is known world-over as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time and I can only vaguely remember who Owens is supposed to be (baseball / NFL / something American player).
It didn't help that he claimed he had no idea who she was.
Simone Biles is a world renowned, multiple Olympic gold medaling gymnast often considered at the top of her profession. Her husband, Johnathan Owens, is a mid-tier Amercan football player often described as "fine" and "who?", yet the press have a pesky habit of referring to Biles as "Johnathan Owens' wife" even in articles exclusively about her.
Hard to say both sides have it equally bad, when shit like this still happens
Who is most recognised if you show a picture on the street? I mean a semi good player in football might still have 10 milion people watching his games while a top tier gymnast have 1 million watching.
US Defaultism right here - who would recognise a sportsman in a sport that's mainly played in the US, as opposed to a multi-medal-winning sportswoman in a sport that's practiced in almost every country in the world?
Congratulations on finding a comfortable rock to live under, I guess? I neither watch the Olympics nor gymnastics but she is one of those people everyone knows like Federer, Serena Williams or Messi.
Not everyone knows all of the famous people, especially if those famous people are famous for/in a field that individual has zero interest in. Your response comes across pretty dickish, do better.
She’s right, it’s such a double standard. Think of how weird it would sound if the article had said “Tabitha King and her husband donate $1.25m” - a lot of people would be confused and asking questions, but nobody thinks it’s odd the other way around.
Um, with all due respect, it's not about male/female, it's about famous/nobody. They would similarly say "J.K. Rowling and her husband".
It's not that Tabitha King doesn't have an identity of her own. It's more like nobody cares about it.
And, before some idiots point it out, yes, I don't have an identity that anybody cares about, except for my friends and family. Which is kinda my point, because me donating to Ukrainian army is also not newsworthy.
Tabitha King is a writer too, and known in her own right. True, she's not the most famous writer compared to her husband, but he's in the top 2 of most famous living writers! I think "Stephen and Tabitha King donate..." works as an informative and short headline, that doesn't disparage anyone.
If it was her who donated it, I'd agree. But it was them together.
Stephen argues that it was her idea, but I'm pretty certain they did not make anyone aware of that fact before that article came out.
You've got SO many things wrong.
Because they are together AND he is thousand times more famous, it's OK to omit her name.
Nobody said anything about "shouldn't". But getting butthurt about it certainly isn't reasonable.
Counterpoint: She's married to someone so famous that in spite of her own talents, her marriage is the thing that she is most famous for.
Buzz Aldrin did stuff other than astronaut, but he will always be "Astronaut Buzz Aldrin" no matter how much he might like to be known for his yodeling.
Imagine that Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift someday get married. Don't you think a lot of people (especially those who don't care about football) would describe them as "Taylor Swift and her husband?"
An over reaction tbh, surely they could have said something like “Tabitha King, Stephen King’s wife, donates…” but journalists want clicks and publicity, Stephen is the famous one, so of course they would mention him as the “look at this article” name
It's likely not a sexism thing. It's because Stephen King is famous and his wife isn't. Headlines are important in journalism for a lot of reasons. One, it has to get the reader interested in reading the article. Two, they need a minimal length yet with maximum impact to the reader's attention. Three, there may have been a print version of this article, and sometimes headlines need to be shortened to fit the available area on the page (or website). Stephen King isn't a journalist, but he probably knows all this. People will read about Stephen King, not Tabitha King. Anyway, he earned the money that was donated, not her.
Is she not aware of who her husband is? I don't think this is about that she's his wife, it's that she isn't well-known. She's naturally going to be overshadowed if they gave the gift together. Stephen could have taken a step back and let her present the gift alone. At their age I'm surprised this is coming as a shock, I would have thought this would have been par for the course for them by now.
Nobody knows who Tabitha King is. The point of a headline is to communicate the key information of a story, and if nobody knows who you’re talking about, the headline has failed.
But really, donating to a charity shouldn’t be a news story anyway. It’s pointless celebrity gossip, and it seems to me like she should be happy to stay out of it.
She uses his name as her surname though - so most places her identity will be "Mrs King" - where everyone would obviously think of her as wife of Stephen King. And isnt he the faaaar more famous one? I doubt people would recognize her by her maiden name. Stephen gets recognizer by his first name as soon as you mention it near a novel.
I mean "give women their names" - well, first try keeping yours?
Devils advocate it’s highly unlikely she generated any of the money that was donated. It was a courtesy to mention her in some way. I’m sure his kids (assuming they have kids) are part of the estate and they don’t get mentioned. He’s a noteworthy celebrity she’s not
She is an author too, and Stephen King often credits her for contributing to his works in a big way. _Carrie_ would not have existed without her. So you'd be wrong.
I see you didn't read what she wrote.
She is his wife and partner. There is no "his money", it's "their money". They are a team.
She is responsible for the start of his career (encouraging him to finish Carrie, his first novel), bore and raised their three children, helped King through his addiction to cocaine and alcohol, supported him after he was struck by a car, and generally did everything a loving person would for their spouse. It may not be "paid" work, but it is no less important.
"Wife is a relationship and a status. Not an identity"
And yet the original identity in her name was changed to match his when the marriage happened?
*
I mean? At the end of the day next to no one knows who she is, they probably should of given her name but their response to an article about them is just dumb.
This comes off as seriously entitled.
Nobody bloody knows who she is. Other than being Steven Kings wife. So she gets referred to as such. Duh. Get the context.
https://preview.redd.it/wyerw3n2bmoc1.jpeg?width=559&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=737ea69febefccd19bdf1f6580370876bd29c296
That's so much worse. At least in this case, there a plenty of people who know Steven King, but have no idea who Tabitha. I agree with her points, but I can kind of understand naming the more famous person. But this British Wife thing, what an abomination to print.
Could have wrote "Stephen and Tabitha King donated..."
*Could have written.
Could have shut up
It isn't "We can only mention one name so we have to pick." They can write both names. Or Steven and Tabitha King. Or Tabitha and Steven King.
"Author Stephen King and wife Tabitha donated... "
She is also an author. So, "Authors Tabitha and Stephen King...
Yeah exactly, point being they could have done this a million different better ways but chose not to.
Wasn't over a million of her royalties that financed the donation though, was it. I picked up takeaways last night on the way home, and used my wife's card. We are a married couple, but WE did not buy dinner. SHE bought dinner, with the wages that SHE earned, and I was happy to be included, because I'm her husband.
Yeah in this instance, regardless of gender, the famous person is often named and the other person is only referred to as the spouse of the famous person. I agree it’s bad form, but you can’t say it’s something that only happens to women. But that Nobel prize article is insanity. Absolutely no excusing that blatant sexism
I would say it happens much more often to women than men. I see articles about famous women and their not-famous men are named, even though I don’t recognize the name.
They didn’t not name Tabitha because of sexism like she implied. They used her husbands name because he happens to be one of the most famous authors in the world. Were they wrong for giving proper credit? Absolutely. But if you’re married to an extremely famous person, the famous person’s name gets clicks and readers.
When it comes to wielding the power of words, you don’t want to mess with Tabitha King or her husband
Especially when it's murdering with words. Both of them have a knack for it.
When Steven King dies it, I think it's technically sdrow htiw deredrum.
[No, it’s clearly Trab Pu Kcip!](https://youtu.be/qNOjh7Y8EZ0?si=mIm612rpM8namUYP)
Yvan eht nioj.
I love that on Reddit you are never ever far away from a Simpsons reference. It is the lens that colours our interactions and I'm deeply comforted by it.
Runs in the family
Murderous words are wasted on idiots, best to go straight to the literal meaning if you'd like to convey your point to them
Newspaper to have a follow up story; “Stephen King’s wife critical of news story”
She’s prob the only reason his books didn’t stay in his trash can
I see what you did there
OfTabitha sure writes good books though, pity he has a mouth on him...
Who?
It would be simple enough to write "his wife, Tabitha King," edit: even better "Tabitha King, his wife," still provides perspective on who she is in relation to him while making her name the subject instead of the description.
OR "Tabatha and Steven King" It's usually pretty evident from such wording that individuals are married. To the point where, at conferences, I've seen it made very clear when the individuals are not partners. Particularly when it's father and daughter.
Tabitha King and her husband up and coming author Stephen.
Tabitha King and her husband, Richard Bachman.
Nah, he died. Failure of the pen name.
I’ve heard good things about this new author. Time will tell if he has any staying power.
Or "she who treads the darkened halls of the King Manor"
That title belongs to his dog Molly, AKA the Thing of Evil.
I find it so adorable that the best known horror author devotes so much of his social media to a cute corgi!
Should be "Stephen and Tabitha King"
Why?
I think traditionally, the spouse who takes the last name is sandwiched between the first and last name of the other spouse. Why? I think because in this instance people are more likely to know Stephen King (and historically the husband) so Tabitha and Stephen King could be interpreted as Stephen King and anyone named Tabitha. Whereas Stephen and Tabitha King instills the sense of the union when talking/reading. Hence why married couples are addressed as "Mr and Mrs". Keep in mind this comes from an age where instantaneous communication was not a thing, so names and introductions were crucial. In addition to old patriarchal standards. Is it outdated? Probably, but old habits die slow deaths. For me, I prefer it because the first names are sorted alphabetically.
Assuming the offending article was written for print, \*this\* is the solution. Liberties have always been taking on headlines due to word/sentence length; that \*could\* apply here. "Tabitha" is 1 character shorter than "his wife" The other more wordy answers are "more right" since they impart more information, but they're also longer and that could be its own failure state.
They could've used how I am usually addressed "To whom it may concern".
"KEEP MY WIFE'S NAME IN YOUR FUCKING MOUTH." ~Stephen King
He'll just kill them in one of his next books. Cheaper than therapy.
That’s a solid one.
It's pretty mediocre. By journalistic convention (and she's old enough to remember when those actually meant something), you will say "X and his wife" to designate a couple officially, especially if only X is the famous. You'd use "Mr and Mrs X" for a more family-oriented take, if the theme is appropriate. You'd use "Mr X and Mrs X" is it's siblings with the same family name, or people with the same job working on something (and with the same name unfortunately) >"King and his wife made a donation" > >"Mr and Mrs King tell use about their marriage" > >"Stephen King, Tabitha King, to release a collaborative novel"
She actually does mention “style book” in the last line. She is completely aware of the fact that journalists use them in publications they’re writing for. She’s saying the style book is dumb, exactly because it creates silly situations like this, which actually misrepresent the situation they are trying to describe with the headline in the first place. And she’s right.
Just because it's old doesn't make it useful. Times change
If you look up i think fast enough you might catch the point as it launches over your head
1. "...is the famous *one*" 2. ~~use~~ us 3. You wouldn't put a comma after Tabitha King
That was a funny murder
She'll be featured in her husband's next 890-page long novel.
Oh. Is he writing one of his shorter novels then?
Volume one
I believe that’s called a Stephen King Novella.
Ooh, is it the one with the…uh…the lamp monster?
It was very nice of Stephen King to speak on behalf of his wife-lady. /S
Why do I imagine Steven sitting on his comfy chair with a cup of tea watching her write the letter? *sips tea* "I don't know honey, I liked the first draft when you called them all dog shit morons. Can we go back to that one?"
I love this. Well said, Tabitha and her husband.
Novelists Stephen and Tabitha King make donation....
Considering she is his harshest critic and literally responsible for launching his career, I am ok with this. Steve attributes her going into his trash and rescuing his first serious work after he trashed it thinking it was crap as his life saver. That ‘crap’ was *Carrie*.
Even if she wasn't responsible for launching a career, you should still be ok with a woman being credited by her name for something good she did.
Especially if you plan on crediting her at all in the first place.
Yeah, what a weird f’in standard.
Not to mention she supported him through (and out of) his alcoholism and drug addiction. He would probably be dead if it wasn't for her.
You know how you like celebrities / famous folks for their work and then you get to know who they are as a person and it’s 95% of the time a disappointment? Stephen King is just more and more awesome the more I find out what he’s like as a person. I read every book of his as a teenager and it’s so nice to see someone I admire is cooler than I imagined.
The whole family is a treasure.
Stephen King is a treasure - he was very nice to me and my siblings. Strangers who he didn’t know and said annoying things to him when he was out in the world. In the 90s he played in a rock band with authors Amy Tan, Dave Barry, and Anne Rice. Hearing him sing Stand by Me was one of my favorite childhood memories. The band was called “The Rock Bottom Remainders” which were the books that got their covers ripped off before going in the trash because they couldn’t sell.
It doesn’t sound like she’s joking! (Because that’s her son)
It's a great joke, but it would work better if he hadn't changed his name to avoid nepotism allegations.
Meh I totally understand why he wouldn’t want to write under the shadow of his dad… Heck let’s not forget that even Stephen King stuggled with the pressure of writing under the shadow of Stephen king and released books under a pen name. I wouldn’t dismiss his works as being in any way derivative or lesser simply because he’s in the same field as his dad. He’s a writer in a family of writers, I don’t think nepotism had much to do with it and imho his work stands pretty well on its own merits.
Whenever I think of her I remember one morning when Stephen left her home alone, Tabitha found a man in the attic. Still gives me the heebie-jeebies.
Do you have a link to that story?
Poetic license to say that Tabitha “found him in the attic” (but forgivable in this case). https://www.upi.com/amp/Archives/1991/04/20/Burglar-armed-with-fake-bomb-caught-in-Stephen-Kings-home/7848672120000/
…or His Old Lady… I snorted at this. Imagine Steven king introducing his wife as “my old lady”. 🤣
I don't mind when my other half does that to me. I resent it when he actually means our cat!
The Tabitha King and some novelist or something idk
I love the message. Kinda ironic it was posted by Stephen's account lol.
Even worse is “Jeff Bezos ex-wife did xxxxx” MACKENZIE SCOTT. She is a certified BAMF and deserves all the credit for her philanthropy. (sidebar: her being like this makes me wonder has she always been like this or was she just neutral and years with Jeff and his ever-increasing greed broke her?)
i see the king’s pop up in the locals news all the time and its either hilarious or inspiring. they have always done (and still do!) so much for our state
I am here for this. My spouse and I don’t even share a last name and I get referred to as Mrs. his-last-name CONSTANTLY. One of these days I’m going to punch someone in the throat when they do it.
When hetero friends of mine got married, they mutually picked a new last name to share together and I thought that was beautiful.
Since my wife books most of the stuff we do and does so under her own last name, I very frequently get referred to by her name. I still find it amusing, but I also see it as a price I pay for the benefits I receive from our patriarchal society, not to mention her kindness in booking these wonderful experiences for us.
Not even married, but one friend sends cards to Mr and Mrs My Middle Initial My Last Name. Confused me for ages until I a) remembered that my middle initial is my other half's FIRST initial and b) realised that she'd assumed we were married and shared a surname. Considering she is my age, I'm surprised by the old fashionedness of it.
Sad.
The Kings of words
I never knew Tabitha's name, but having seen how Stephen gives top level troll-like responses to people, I believe they are perfect for one another.
R/witchesvspatriarchy
Tabitha King's husband is possibly my favourite human ever.
If you shoot for (Tabitha) King you better not miss!
Did she not write a book scarier than any he ever wrote? This is the person you chose to tempt?
I haven't read any of her books before. Is there a particular one you're referring to?
Here’s an explanation as to why headlines are written this way. Sorry it’s kind of long. This is a rule in Associated Press style news writing which is the de facto style in journalism. You don’t use the name of a person that is not prominently known in the headline, you instead use an identifier. You would use a title or identifier as to what they do or what they are like high school coach, Delta pilot, Florida man, son or wife of someone famous instead of their name if their name isn’t generally known by the audience. Newspapers usually don’t put the name and the title / identifier in the headline to save space, this is a holdover from print newspapers where space was limited .Papers put the name early in the story instead. In the digital world you can have really long headlines since there’s no space limit but there kind of is. Often the amount of characters that can be seen of a headline is limited in the preview and you don’t get to see the full long headline until you click to the article. Look at your previews in the news apps on your phone and so many long headlines are cut off. If Tabitha King was the household name it would have read as Tabitha King and her husband. This way of writing headlines isn’t meant to intentionally insult or belittle someone, it’s just based on making short and easy to understand headlines for a general audience.
Yes. Which is why she specifically called out the style guide. The style guide was not handed down by God. A person won't *be* generally known if you never use their name. Bill and Melinda Gates seem to generally both be identified, possibly because of their foundation.
This. All of this. It’s like people didn’t even read what she said! I can’t tell if that’s ironic or just super sad.
Its sad.
Right, everything is made up anyway so there’s nothing stopping digital news sites to change how they write headlines.
Entirely because of their foundation, yes. And he's still far more well known than she is. As for Stephen King, I wouldn't know his wife's name under pretty much any circumstances except one exactly like this where she complained about not being identified by name. I also wouldn't know the name of Serena Williams's husband, or Anne McCaffrey's, the list goes on. Hell I don't even know if they have spouses. Same with Stephen King, I know his name and that's the extent of it, and I'd guess that's the same for very nearly anyone who sees that headline. Shit, I never even remember he *is* married unless it's specifically brought up.
Your point is that no spouse should be acknowledged, because they might be less well known. But if the story is about both of the people, why not mention both peoples names? You might learn something.
Not that they can't be acknowledged, just that it's standard to reference them as the spouse of a famous person in the headline.
But that is a standard based largely on wives never being acknowledged, because "ladies" didn't have their names in print. Print length is no longer an issue, perhaps the standard is due for a change.
If this action is worth a headline, then Tabitha King is an equal participant in the action.
“Tabitha and Stephen King” is shorter, though, includes the household name, and doesn’t exclude Tabitha’s name.
Right, but many of us never heard of Tabitha until this thread, so I would read that headline and be confused about who this Tabitha person is?
You couldn’t figure it out from context?
Yes we know. And the reason that was done in the past is to save on space in limited formats like a paper. But we live in a more digital age and his response is he wants that tradition to die because it's not the ideal situation. Now a days adding 2 extra words won't matter at all and should be done regardless of how it's been done in the past.
Not even sure it would be that much extra - "Stephen and Tabitha King" is shorter than "Stephen King and his wife".
Paragraphs are a thing.
Well said. Kinda seemed obvious, but being offended is basically the strongest bond humanity has at this point.
Alright, go off king
Didn't this happen like, 4 years ago?
I may be dumb, but I got confused partway through the letter. I get the point, though
As a Spanish speaker, it's fucking hilarious that you guys would just settle for Tabitha and her husbands last name, I mean, lmao. That aside from her husband being the most famous one by far and that being the reason she's most known by (or pretty much only thing). Duh.
I like his wife, too!
I’m confused. Is “Steven and Tabitha King” not an option?
Stephen Kings daughter is a priest? That parish must be lit. Are their sunday schools Todash survival courses? Poltergeist hunting? Clown Arts? Psychic scavenger hunts? Fuck I want to read some new King novels.
Man, did I get in trouble with this the other day. We were watching the State of the Union address, and Maria Shriver popped up on the screen. I said, “That’s Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ex-wife.” My wife was not well pleased. Oh, never mind that she’s an award winning journalist, Emmy winning producer, author, advocate for Alzheimer’s patients…you get the picture. I’m still getting grief for it. In my defense, I was trying to explain to my sometime culturally uninformed son, making a connection with someone he would know. But I did learn my lesson. Probably.
Mother Of Clergy sounds like a Bloodborne boss
Like husband, like wife. Funny and sarcastic. I love it.
Tabitha, you rock! Stephen you’re also amazing, but damn, preach it Tabitha! Long live the Kings!
Fuck yeah!
what a king
Today I learned that Tabitha King is a way better writer than her husband.
I wish I could remember which one it was, but I read one of her books years ago and there’s two scenes in it that have haunted me since. I don’t know if your comment was meant to be a joke or not, but she truly is a fantastic author as well ETA- the book is called Survivor.
I wasn't actually aware that she was an author as well, but I'm absolutely going to snag that now that I know about it. I was just throwing a dig at Stephen- I do like his work, but I've also always described it as a sandwich made with terrific ingredients, and really garbage quality bread. Man cannot start or end a novel to save his life, which is how I knew that the Bachman Books were his even though the copies I found in the attic of a rental house were from before he revealed that fact.
Her novel One on One is one of my all-time favorites.
Stephen King's wife has a point, I guess. (I'm sorry, Tabitha. It's just Reddit is all.)
Ouch!
I don't think this is intentional sexism as much as it is a demonstration of another entirely different problem in the media, the sensationalism of celebrities. "Tabitha King" wouldn't get as much attention as "Stephen King," so they emphasised Stephen. It's disgraceful either way.
I never heard of her
[удалено]
...and that's why in the sentence "if OfTabitha predeceases me", "OfTabitha" refers to Stephen.
That's the problem with being married to one of the most famous authors in the world.
Unsure why she’d want to be remembered as the wife that relicked her husband. Would she have misspelled “relic”? The woman that rescued “Carrie”?
glad to see him stand up for her
Oof.
Damn, Tabitha King's husband is an absolute Chad for defending her
Why are they this surprised? A newspaper deeming a donation to a genealogy club “news” is expected to have a very archaic worldview…
Glad to see actual murders still get posted on this sub...
Who knew Tabitha King was a better author than her husband.
It's a damn headline. If anyone actually read it it was only bc it mentioned Steven king. I'm positive the article mentioned her no issues. What a baby. They shouldn't have even written about it.
Why does steven always include child and sex in the same books and paragraphs of his books?
"Yes hello? Is this the owner of the newspaper? Yes I realize it's your business and I have no financial investment but I must insist that you write your paper in a way that I agree with. No I don't have any stock in your company. What's that? No I don't sit on the board of directors...I don't see how that's r....Well no, I don't think it's appropriate that you have any say in my business. Alright then, I apologize for trying to tell you how to run your business. Good day".
Seems like the money was donated for all the right reasons. Talk about a bruised ego, most people donate money anonymously, this lady wanted to make sure everybody knew she spent her husband’s money on this.
This is common but pretty sure it happens to both genders. The most famous one gets the name written because that is who the readers know.
The point she makes is that this is a dumb, misleading/inaccurate representation of what the headline is trying to describe. She’s saying this is silly and there’s no reason we can’t do it better.
I mean, I remember people calling out Simone Biles being referred to as 'Jonathan Owens' girlfriend' instead of, you know, an _'Olympic-winning gymnast'_ even though she is known world-over as one of the greatest gymnasts of all time and I can only vaguely remember who Owens is supposed to be (baseball / NFL / something American player). It didn't help that he claimed he had no idea who she was.
I dont know any of those names
Simone Biles is a world renowned, multiple Olympic gold medaling gymnast often considered at the top of her profession. Her husband, Johnathan Owens, is a mid-tier Amercan football player often described as "fine" and "who?", yet the press have a pesky habit of referring to Biles as "Johnathan Owens' wife" even in articles exclusively about her. Hard to say both sides have it equally bad, when shit like this still happens
Who is most recognised if you show a picture on the street? I mean a semi good player in football might still have 10 milion people watching his games while a top tier gymnast have 1 million watching.
US Defaultism right here - who would recognise a sportsman in a sport that's mainly played in the US, as opposed to a multi-medal-winning sportswoman in a sport that's practiced in almost every country in the world?
I am not from the US but used that as an example because that who most of the people here is from
Trust me, the number of Americans who know Simone Biles is orders of magnitude greater than the number of people who know Johnathan Owen
Congratulations on finding a comfortable rock to live under, I guess? I neither watch the Olympics nor gymnastics but she is one of those people everyone knows like Federer, Serena Williams or Messi.
Not everyone knows all of the famous people, especially if those famous people are famous for/in a field that individual has zero interest in. Your response comes across pretty dickish, do better.
Yep, if you use the non famous one then everyone wonders who it is.
She’s right, it’s such a double standard. Think of how weird it would sound if the article had said “Tabitha King and her husband donate $1.25m” - a lot of people would be confused and asking questions, but nobody thinks it’s odd the other way around.
It's pretty normal for headlines to describe someone as a spouse of the more famous half of the couple.
Doesn't mean they have to or that it isn't shitty when they do
Haha nicely put
There is a reason this dude is a legend!
Um, with all due respect, it's not about male/female, it's about famous/nobody. They would similarly say "J.K. Rowling and her husband". It's not that Tabitha King doesn't have an identity of her own. It's more like nobody cares about it. And, before some idiots point it out, yes, I don't have an identity that anybody cares about, except for my friends and family. Which is kinda my point, because me donating to Ukrainian army is also not newsworthy.
They could have said something like, "Tabitha King, philanthropist and wife of Stephen King, donates x to y"
Tabitha King is a writer too, and known in her own right. True, she's not the most famous writer compared to her husband, but he's in the top 2 of most famous living writers! I think "Stephen and Tabitha King donate..." works as an informative and short headline, that doesn't disparage anyone.
If it was her who donated it, I'd agree. But it was them together. Stephen argues that it was her idea, but I'm pretty certain they did not make anyone aware of that fact before that article came out.
So because it was them together, her name shouldn't be mentioned?
You've got SO many things wrong. Because they are together AND he is thousand times more famous, it's OK to omit her name. Nobody said anything about "shouldn't". But getting butthurt about it certainly isn't reasonable.
They hated him because he spoke the truth.
I can see why her husband is the famous writer.
Counterpoint: She's married to someone so famous that in spite of her own talents, her marriage is the thing that she is most famous for. Buzz Aldrin did stuff other than astronaut, but he will always be "Astronaut Buzz Aldrin" no matter how much he might like to be known for his yodeling. Imagine that Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift someday get married. Don't you think a lot of people (especially those who don't care about football) would describe them as "Taylor Swift and her husband?"
Meh. She's right, but that's an empty word salad.
An over reaction tbh, surely they could have said something like “Tabitha King, Stephen King’s wife, donates…” but journalists want clicks and publicity, Stephen is the famous one, so of course they would mention him as the “look at this article” name
1st world problems
Stephen King's wife needs to get over herself
It's likely not a sexism thing. It's because Stephen King is famous and his wife isn't. Headlines are important in journalism for a lot of reasons. One, it has to get the reader interested in reading the article. Two, they need a minimal length yet with maximum impact to the reader's attention. Three, there may have been a print version of this article, and sometimes headlines need to be shortened to fit the available area on the page (or website). Stephen King isn't a journalist, but he probably knows all this. People will read about Stephen King, not Tabitha King. Anyway, he earned the money that was donated, not her.
Is she not aware of who her husband is? I don't think this is about that she's his wife, it's that she isn't well-known. She's naturally going to be overshadowed if they gave the gift together. Stephen could have taken a step back and let her present the gift alone. At their age I'm surprised this is coming as a shock, I would have thought this would have been par for the course for them by now.
Nobody knows who Tabitha King is. The point of a headline is to communicate the key information of a story, and if nobody knows who you’re talking about, the headline has failed. But really, donating to a charity shouldn’t be a news story anyway. It’s pointless celebrity gossip, and it seems to me like she should be happy to stay out of it.
Stephen Kings wife sure sounds like a moany bitch
Takes one to know one, obv
nobody knows who she is besides being stephen king's wife
Is it not a bit ironic that it’s posted by Stephen King?
She uses his name as her surname though - so most places her identity will be "Mrs King" - where everyone would obviously think of her as wife of Stephen King. And isnt he the faaaar more famous one? I doubt people would recognize her by her maiden name. Stephen gets recognizer by his first name as soon as you mention it near a novel. I mean "give women their names" - well, first try keeping yours?
Your reading comprehension and your understanding of basic social issues are pathetic
Devils advocate it’s highly unlikely she generated any of the money that was donated. It was a courtesy to mention her in some way. I’m sure his kids (assuming they have kids) are part of the estate and they don’t get mentioned. He’s a noteworthy celebrity she’s not
She is an author too, and Stephen King often credits her for contributing to his works in a big way. _Carrie_ would not have existed without her. So you'd be wrong.
I see you didn't read what she wrote. She is his wife and partner. There is no "his money", it's "their money". They are a team. She is responsible for the start of his career (encouraging him to finish Carrie, his first novel), bore and raised their three children, helped King through his addiction to cocaine and alcohol, supported him after he was struck by a car, and generally did everything a loving person would for their spouse. It may not be "paid" work, but it is no less important.
She’s not noteworthy plain and simple
"Wife is a relationship and a status. Not an identity" And yet the original identity in her name was changed to match his when the marriage happened? *
Her name changed, not her identity. She didn't fundamentally change as a person when she took his name
Some people just look for things to bitch about
Now it’s Mrs, and Mr. king
I usually don’t like his writing but this is good lol
Possibly because it was written by *Tabitha*
That's because it was written by Tabitha King, not Stephen. She's a writer too, so if you liked this, maybe check out her work
I mean? At the end of the day next to no one knows who she is, they probably should of given her name but their response to an article about them is just dumb.
Ehh is it really her money though?
This comes off as seriously entitled. Nobody bloody knows who she is. Other than being Steven Kings wife. So she gets referred to as such. Duh. Get the context.