The Phillips Manhunt & the P-U

The hunt for Ralph Phillips continues. Although it's a local story, I've hestitated to say a lot because there isn't a lot that needs to be said. I have opinions, as a Chautauqua County resident, but none really have any legal backing to merit blogging pontification.

I do enjoy the chance to discuss the journalistic sylings of the Post-Journal, though. This is the newspaper that refused to cover a press conference featuring the mayor of Jamestown and the County Executive, unveiling a charity festival raising money for a program which provides musical education to keep kids off the streets, because a cartoonist in the local alternative paper (which sponsors the fundraiser) referred to it as the "Post-Urinal" in his editorial cartoon.

So, in today's paper, there's a brief story ("special to the P-J", which means it was likely written by a staff reporter as another paper owned by the same chain) discussing an incident between some of Phillips' relatives and the State Police. Tempers flared, people may have been pushed, etc. The reason I mention it, though, is that I learned a new word. Apparently Phillips' daughter alleges she was called a durgatory name by the police. That's not a quote from her--that's a new and special word invented by the P-U reporter and careful, eagle-eyed editors. Is it a combination of "derogatory" and "durrty", which I believe was a Christina Aguilera song?