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#17186 01/30/01 04:20 PM
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Cricket fraternity in-joke
Max, do you mean to tell me there was something not cricket about a test match?


#17187 01/30/01 04:33 PM
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> when Marino's 49ers were divine.

I knew you kiwis lived in an alternate universe!

[Marino toiled his whole career for miami, da fins]


#17188 01/30/01 04:47 PM
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Poe's last years.

Actually, he was not living in Baltimore when he died; he was here on a visit.

I should share with you one of the urban legends which makes Baltimore the place it is.

Poe is buried in the churchyard of what used to be Westminster Presbyterian Church, located in downtown Baltimore. It was originally (early 1800's) on the edge of the city, but, of course, the city has grown up around it. The church went out of business about 40 years ago for lack of communicants and the building and the churchyard are now owned by the U. of Maryland Medical School, which abuts it. An old story, which is not denied by the U. of Md., is that in the early days, when it was illegal to dissect human remains, the faculty of the med. school secretly dug a tunnel from the school to the cemetery so they could steal corpses for the students to dissect, and the tunnel is still in existence.

With that suitably Poesque prologue:
The churchyard is not large and Poe's grave is quite visible from the street, being marked by a fair-sized monument. It is surrounded by a wrought iron fence; the gates are never closed. Since the late 1940's, every year on Poe's birthday, a mysterious visitor, clad in a top hat and black cloak, visits the grave in the middle of the night and leaves a red rose and a half-full pint bottle of brandy on the grave. When this attracted attention, the church (later the University) arranged that there should be no publicity, and no interference with the visitor. The local newspapers staked out the area, but never succeeded in getting a photo; only a very vague description of the visitor's clothes. If anyone ever did know who the visitor is, it has never been revealed. Several years ago, the newspaper did receive an anonymous letter the night after the visit, explaining that the original visitor had died and the job was handed down to his sons, who have kept it up. Poe's birthday, and the visit, is in mid-January. This year, a sacrilege was committed; the visitor also left behind a sheet with two quotations from Poe stories wrapped in ribbons of the NY Giants colors (the Ravens' opponents in the Superbowl), all of which indicated that the visitor was a Giants fan!! It does not amaze me that there could be such a custom, after all this is Baltimore; what is amazing is that nobody has yet ruined it by gathering a crowd on the appropriate night or trying to apprehend and identify the visitor.


#17189 01/30/01 04:55 PM
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On the original subject of this thread
Something I heard on the radio this morning reminded me of three old favorites:

the archaic 'shew' and 'strew', pronounced respectively 'show' and 'strow'; and 'thresh', pronounced (at least hereabouts) 'thrash'.


#17190 01/30/01 04:56 PM
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This reminds me...in my family, we often mispronounce words on purpose, among ourselves, just for fun. The problem begins when we consistently do this. It becomes difficult to pronounce these words properly when surrounded by "real" people. One of my favourites is "hors d'oeuvres", which we always say "HOARS doovers". Also "connoisseur" is "kon-OY-sser". Very embarassing, when I say it to non-family members, who then think I must be ignorant!


#17191 01/30/01 05:15 PM
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Bean, we do that too. My husband now has me saying "modren" for "modern," whether I intend to or not. Harumph.


#17192 01/30/01 05:56 PM
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I remember years ago never using "hors d'oeuvres" when speaking since i didn't know how to pronounce it.

A friend who was a teacher played the same sort of game as Bean-- only he called them Horse's ovaries--and I was aplumb! i was sure that wasn't how the word was pronounced-- but didn't know how to correct him! he realized my quandry from the look on my face-- and thought it was as much fun as his misprounciation-- We always had horse's ovaries after that!

I find rather than mis pronouncing a word-- there where words -prior to spell check that i never used in writing--

for example i also used to "opt for" or make "a choice" never decide-- since i could never decide how to spell it- was it dec or dic or des or des-- and the advice "look it up" was usless! you have to have a clue as to how a word is spelt to look it up! I never thought as a dictionary as a spelling tool-- it was a word warehouse-- you could browse and find wonderful words--a free for the taking. but if you didn't know how to spell a word-- forget it!

i do remeber reading about a NY guy from Puerto Rico, who when he first went to school in NY, and had a Christian brother for a home room teacher--and mis read Brother Malachi's name as Mal lea chee--(as it would be said in spanish--) not Mal a key. It seem perfectly reasonable to me, since i had trouble with Jose when i first encountered it-- (Joe see--it seemed to me!)


#17193 01/30/01 06:11 PM
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Damn! Thank you SO much tsuwm! You're calling me on that one mistak means that I will now have to resit the entire infallibility exam, before they wil even consider my application for bridge-builder maximus.


#17194 01/30/01 06:29 PM
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>I will now have to resit the entire infallibility exam

dear maxie, knowing you as I do, I initially read that as resist...


#17195 01/30/01 06:37 PM
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I initially read that as resist

Aargh! My sea of troubles gets deeper and deeper. First I learn that it is I, and only I, who has not the ear of Anu, and now I learn that the absence of typos in my posts is so rare as to make such a post difficult to read. Where the hell is a bodkin when you need one(interrobang)


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