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#120705 01/21/04 06:30 PM
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"Across the park to the olfactories of Mr. Coulson came
other unmistakable, characteristic, copyrighted smells
of spring that belong to the-big-city-above-the-Subway,
alone. The smells of hot asphalt, underground caverns,
gasoline, patchouli, orange peel, sewer gas, Albany grabs,
Egyptian cigarettes, mortar and the undried ink on news-
papers. The inblowing air was sweet and mild. Sparrows
wrangled happily everywhere outdoors. Never trust May."

What in hell were "Albany grabs"?


#120706 01/21/04 07:09 PM
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Whatcha quoting from, Doc?


#120707 01/21/04 07:16 PM
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An O.Henry story about an elderly man getting romantic
with the housekeeper.
"The Merry Month of May"


#120708 01/21/04 07:19 PM
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That's such an evocative passage. I've read it though a couple of times, and am wondering: could Albany grabs be something to eat, sold by a street vendor? A fast-food precursor?


#120709 01/21/04 07:22 PM
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I searched carefully. Found nothing that fitted.


#120710 01/21/04 07:40 PM
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You pronouncing it Al buh nee, Awl buh nee or Al Ben nee? It might make a difference.


#120711 01/21/04 07:58 PM
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Dear Faldage:"Awl buh nee" is pretty close to how I pronounce it. I've never been through Albany. Don't have
any ideas about its olfactory pollution a hundred years ago.



#120712 01/21/04 08:04 PM
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That'd be the New York one, then.


#120713 01/21/04 10:02 PM
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is there a full moon tonight?



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#120714 01/22/04 02:25 AM
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Quite the other and wise. Happy New Year, all y'all Monkeys.


#120715 01/22/04 02:53 AM
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Dear etaoin: I tried to find out when moon will be full here. I found a site with a lot of information, but the formula they give to calculate date of full moon is too
complicated for me. See if you can comprehend it.
http://cp.yahoo.net/search/cache?p=Almanac+full+moon+Los+Angeles&ei=UTF-8&cop=mss&url=KJ08B1zZgxUJ:www.voyagenow.com/travel-references/en/wikipedia/f/fu/full_moon.html


#120716 01/22/04 09:25 AM
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In came Mrs. Widdup. She was comely to the eye, fair, flustered, forty and foxy.
"Higgins is out, sir," she said, with a smile suggestive of vibratory massage. "He went to post a letter. Can I do anything for you, sir?"


Thanks for the reminder of O. Henry’s genius, Bill. I haven’t read a thing by him since I was 14 when I devoured everything I could get my hands on, and you’ve inspired me to revisit the old master.
Is this the site you read from by any chance?

http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/ohenry/bl-ohenry-marry.htm

I note this sentence seems to have a clear spelling mistake (since I take it that it should read “Now if you’ll excuse…”):

“Not if you'll excuse me, lady. It'll be a pleasure to fix things up for you any way you please."


That confirmed my wondering if Albany grabs is just a typo for Albany grass – what do you think? I have a collection of his short stories at home and can try to LIU tonight, unless someone else has a print copy of this story to hand.



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thanks, Bill. like the Moon, that math is way over my head...




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#120718 01/22/04 02:47 PM
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Dear Mav: I tried to think of a typo that would make more
sense. But he was describing things to be smelled in NYC
that were not pleasant. I couldn't think of anything that
fitted that requirement.

Dear etaoin: I was disappointed that I could not find out when the moon will be full here. I remember Abraham Lincoln
winning a lawsuit, by showing that a witness lied when he
said he saw crime by light of full moon, because almanac
showed moon was not visible on that night.


#120719 01/22/04 04:26 PM
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> things to be smelled in NYC that were not pleasant

Yes, I'm not too sure in suggesting it, either; but it did sound at least a possibility, in that qualifying the smell of grass as "Albany grass" might have had some specific connotation. You know, like da godfatha might refer to a 'cement overcoat'?! But it's really just a WAG :)


#120720 01/22/04 06:15 PM
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a WAG for Albany grabs might be apples (almost rotten apples).. NY is a still a big apple producer, and by
May, many of the 'keeper' apples would be 'going off'
(they would have been shipped downriver from albany...and sold in poor neighborhoods.

one image (in NYC) of the great depression of the 1930 was apple sellers on the street. 1929 and 1930 were bumper years for apple crops, the market was flooded with out of work people hawking apples.. (think of Runyon's stories of the time.)

(NY Whitefish are 'extinct' now for the most part. 99.9% of NYC's waste water is treated.. when it wasn't, the north(hudson) river used to rich with used condoms that would fill with water and float downstream.) NYer have interesting names for things.


#120721 01/22/04 07:55 PM
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Dr Bill, do you have a 2004 calendar? Most of them show the 4 phases. Otherwise I'm sure there's an easy-to-read chart on the net.
Here's one, but there are surely better ones out there:

http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html


#120722 01/22/04 08:00 PM
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Dear AS: ever since I got a computer, I have relied on it
for calendar. I used to make my own with an art program.
I'm still surprised that I couldn't find what I wanted to know by searching for "almanac full moon".
P.S. I tried once more, and this time I struck paydirt:
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/MoonPhase.html#y2004

It said full moon was Jan 7th, so, etaoin, I was not "mooning".


#120723 01/22/04 08:43 PM
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May I respectfully submit, Dr Bill, that that is the very same URL I gave you, except stretched to the current year.
Glad you like it.


#120724 01/22/04 09:50 PM
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Dear AS: Another senile moment. Edit: Signals over.
Look at the times. Your post had not appeared when
I posted.


#120725 01/22/04 11:07 PM
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two silly things:
1. I have that very page linked from the homepage of my website. d@ on me.
2. my moon comment was really about all the clever quips and posts that seemed to be flying around these past few days...




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