There was a nice article in our newspaper today. Obviously I wasn't the only one surprised by the survey results: that we're the 8th. most literate city in the States.
http://www.courier-journal.com/localnews/2003/07/21ky/met-front-literate0721-7462.html

Well done Louahvull. Now, if we could only teach y'all the correct pronunciation of Derby, we'd really be getting somewhere.

bro! how I like that name's connotations

But they'd still be unable to orientate themselves to Shakepeare... <eg>

Didn't follow the link but lemme guess: There were eight cities in the survey, right?

A-HEM...from the article: a baseline of 64 cities with populations of 250,000 or more. [So there e]
According to the online Yellow Pages (I'm too lazy to go find the actual thing), we have 34 retail book stores, 1 technical, 23 used and rare, 1 wholesale, 8 comic book, 2 printers, and 14 publishers.

Dear Jackie ~

Where did little ole Seattle come in on the list?

Humbly ~

Father Steve

In order , the survey ranked the top literate cities as: Minneapolis; Seattle; Denver; Atlanta; San Francisco; Pittsburgh ; Washington and Louisville. Fiberbabe, did you sneak a peek at this survey when you were deciding where to live?

Louisville's ranking for library support was third in the nation.
That ranking included the ratio of public school librarians to students, in which Louisville ranks 12th in the nation

>a baseline of 64 cities with populations of 250,000 or more.

just as a matter of critical curiosity, how many US cities are there that meet this criterium? (surely there are more than 64?)

[asked with the smug knowledge that no matter how much you extrapolate, first is still going to be close to the top. : ) ]

Well, Hoorah for Louisville, Jackie. Keep up the good work!
And never mind the teasing. "Every knock's a boost!"

That's great news! I know more than a few people who prior to visiting knocked the place, but after visiting were surprised at how "cosmopolitan" it was. "Hey! They wear shoes here!"

k

On Sunday next, I will fly from the second-most-literate city in America to the first-most-literate city in America. Are there mental exercises I ought perform in order to tune up my feeble brain?

You should prolly oughtta check with tsuwm. :)

Yeah, it's still not too late to change your destination to somewhere a tad less challenging, Padre. Don't wear yourself out!

that we're the 8th. most literate city in the States.

'Cept they can't pronounce the name of their own town! [rolling-eyes-with-a-wink-and-ducking-for-cover e]