Jan. 3, 2003

'Abby' and 'Annie' Answer the Same Letter
It's Happened Before, Advice Columnists Say

By STEVE FRIESS

In a rare duplication, both the "Dear Abby" and "Annie's Mailbox" columns have answered the same letter from a man who wanted to be the best man at his gay brother's commitment ceremony but didn't know if he should ask for the honor.

The letter from "Excited About My Brother's Big Fat Gay Wedding" ran first in "Annie's" column, distributed by Creators Syndicate Inc., on Nov. 20. It then also ran on Dec. 30 in "Dear Abby," distributed by Universal Press Syndicate (UPS).

"These incidents happen once a year or so," UPS spokeswoman Kathie Kerr said. "It's not unusual for a person to write for advice to various different advice givers. I think that it's the nature of the business that occasionally this is bound to happen."

Still, the odds are slim, as both columns receive about 3,000 letters a week, generally ensuring enough unique material for both. In this case, "Annie" Senior Editor Karen Duryea said, "Obviously something in this letter appealed to our columnist that would appeal to several advice columnists. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often, actually."

The letters were edited differently -- one called the gay brother "Justin" while the other dubbed him "Randy" -- and received slightly different answers. "Annie" scribes Marcy Sugar and Kathy Mitchell told "Excited" not to directly ask to be best man but to offer assistance on the ceremony's arrangements, whereas "Abby" writer Jeanne Phillips urged him to "take no chances on a miscommunication" by coming right out and saying he hoped to be a part of the ceremony itself.

There's little that can be done to safeguard such duplication, Duryea and Kerr agreed. The writers "are concentrating on the quality of their own columns, which doesn't leave a whole lot of time to read other people's columns," Kerr said.