title: Weird behaviour initializing a numpy array of string data
body: <p>I am having some seemingly trivial trouble with numpy when the array contains string data.  I have the following code:    </p>
  
  <pre><code>my_array = numpy.empty([1, 2], dtype = str)
  my_array[0, 0] = "Cat"
  my_array[0, 1] = "Apple"
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Now, when I print it with <code>print my_array[0, :]</code>, the response I get is <code>['C', 'A']</code>, which is clearly not the expected output of Cat and Apple.  Why is that, and how can I get the right output?</p>
  
  <p>Thanks!</p>