The Reports of Izzi's Mugging Are Greatly Exaggerated

If you are on the email list of North End Action Team's Executive Director, Izzi Greenberg you may have received a disturbing email about her plight this morning.

In part, the email reads:


I'm writing this with tears in my eyes, I came down here to London, England  for a short vacation and i was mugged at gun point last night at the park of the hotel where i lodged all cash,credit cards and cell were stolen off me.

Greenberg never got further than Massachusetts this holiday weekend, and the reports of robbery and abandonment are the result of a hijacked email address book, and a spam that the sender hoped would net donations.

Of course, if you know Izzi, and have ever received an email from her, you would know that the sentence construction and tone of the email are not at all Izzi.  In fact, it's quite clear that the email's author is not complete control of the American English idiom.  The author is also not aware that most hotels demand a credit card at check-in to avoid the very issue the email addresses.

Izzi was quick to dispel the notion that she was in trouble, but not before there was major commotion in several places where Izzi is well-know.

"I hear there was nearly an all-points-bulletin at City Hall," Izzi wrote in an email.

A lesson to us all.  Guard our email files.  Know where our friends are.  And prudently check all pleas for help.