Missouri?

From Bryan Garner’s Usage Tip of the Day: is it /mi-zuur-ee/ or /mi-zuur-ә/?

The pronunciation of this state name has provoked much strife. Although most Americans say /mi-zuur-ee/, many Missourians say /mi-zuur-ә/. In and around St. Louis, many say /ee/, but /ә/ has traditionally predominated in other parts of the state. Both pronunciations are standard. Yet it is a telling point that politicians running for statewide office are careful to say /ә/ — to seem folksy and avoid sounding like an auslander. But interestingly, the final-syllable /ә/ pronunciation seems to be for insiders only — all non-Missourians being expected to say /ee/. . . .

An early commentator, the noted linguist E.H. Sturtevant, attributed the final-syllable /-ә/ to hypercorrection. It’s a surprising but quite plausible argument: “In the dialect of Missouri and the neighboring states, final a in such words as ‘America,’ ‘Arizona,’ ‘Nevada,’ becomes y —‘Americy,’ ‘Arizony,’ ‘Nevady.’ All educated people in that region carefully correct this vulgarism out of their speech; and many of them carry the correction too far and say ‘Missoura,’ ‘praira,’ etc.” E.H. Sturtevant, Linguistic Change 79 (1917).

In Illinois we have /lәr-nee/ (Lerna) and /lox-ee/ (Loxa) and no doubt /meh-nee/ others.

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A [need + past participle] day

A bank’s LED sign: “Mortagage need refinanced?”

An invoice: “Tech was called out for water heater. Found needed reset.”

A localite, noticing some Asian honeysuckle that ought to be cut back: “It needs done!”

[Need + past participle] is a regionalism, found in many places, including downstate Illinois.

Related posts
“Need rescued” : “Needs studied” : “Need worked”

Mystery actor

[“Uh, I ain’t got no change.” Click for a larger view.]

That cabbie just received a mighty big tip. You might suss out his identity by recognizing some of the other faces and doing some crafty searching, but the real question is: do you recognize him? I did, right away, which makes me think that this mystery will be a tough one. Leave your best guess in the comments. I’ll drop one or more hints if necessary.

*

Here’s a hint: this actor is probably best known for playing an avuncular fellow with a mustache.

*

Oh well. This actor’s identity is now in the comments.

More mystery actors (Collect them all!)
? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ? : ?

“Un-Amercian”.

A history professor commented on a student's “un-American” punctuation. The student was upset:

“I mean, this is not an English class, and I’ve gone through English classes, so I know that I’m supposed to punctuate the correct way throughout essays and I know he’s supposed to correct me and take points off for it, which I put in my email to him, but those comments were just so unnecessary.”

The professor was joking.

[In an online class the options for humor may be sharply limited.]

Grilled-cheese revolution

I have always made grilled-cheese sandwiches by buttering the bread before placing it in the pan. Every set of directions for making a grilled-cheese sandwich that I’ve read advises thusly. My search though has not been exhaustive.

A better way: place some butter in the pan. Put the sandwich on the butter. Press. Move the sandwich around a bit to get as much butter as possible on the bread. When you’re ready to flip, add a little more butter to the pan.

Buttering the pan and not the bread makes for a much, much quicker sandwich. And the pan can stay at relatively high heat without burning the bread. I don’t know why that’s so.

Note: It is indeed a grilled-cheese revolution, not a grilled cheese revolution.

"An enlightened descendant"

Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading, trans. Dmitri Nabokov and Vladmir Nabokov (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1959).

Related reading
All OCA Nabokov and pencil posts (Pinboard)

A Robert Johnson obituary

The New York Times has added an obituary for Robert Johnson to its Overlooked series, which recognizes people whose deaths went unremarked in the newspaper.

The problems with this obit begin at the beginning: “Johnson gained little notice in his life, but his songs — quoted by the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton and Led Zeppelin — helped ignite rock ’n’ roll.” Well, no. Rock ’n’ roll, as a 1950s phenomenon, owes little or nothing to Robert Johnson. And the musicians mentioned didn’t “quote” Johnson; they performed his songs or created their own near-versions of his songs (as the obituary goes on to acknowledge). Another odd point: Johnson didn’t play walking basslines, as the obit claims; he played (sometimes) with a boogie or shuffle in the bass. His borrowings via the phonograph from other blues musicians in widely divergent styles go unremarked. And there’s no mention of the 1938 From Spirituals to Swing Carnegie Hall concert that might have brought Johnson broad recognition had he not died earlier that year. The concert was produced by John Hammond, who would later reissue Johnson’s recordings on LP (as the obituary notes).

I could probably go on.

[I suspect that the writer of this obit was not familiar enough with the subject to get things right. For instance: the Times article that he cites about Johnson’s purported walking bass makes no reference to walking basslines. Instead it refers (accurately) to boogie bass.]

“A Message to You Rudy”

[The Specials, “A Message to You Rudy” (Dandy Livingstone). From the album The Specials (2 Tone, 1979).]

It’s too late for Rudy Giuliani to straighten right out. But maybe not too late for some other Rudy.

Manhattanhenge

So strange: Elaine and I were talking about it last night during a blinding sunset. I didn’t know that there was a word for it: Manhattanhenge.

Zippy Psyche

[“Fairy Crossing.” Zippy, September 28, 2019.]

That’s Herman Sherman, “Dingburg’s ‘Skeptic-in-Chief,’” speaking with — who? A fairy, I guess, or a sprite — Herman warns her that it’s a “no-sprite zone.” Or should that be Sprite?

The fairy or sprite in today’s Zippy bears an unmistakable resemblance to Psyche, symbol of White Rock Beverages. Here’s an NPR story about Psyche and her soda company. (Soda: which is why I think there’s a pun in “no-sprite zone.”) And here’s a company page about Psyche.

I remember White Rock from my Brooklyn kidhood. I believe that Psyche was then known as “the White Rock maiden,” but I can’t find any evidence for my claim.

Here’s Psyche as herself:


[Life, December 29, 1947. Click for a larger view, and notice Psyche’s hands in the upper-right image.]

It’s worth taking the time to read the advertisement: “The drinks were tops last night — and I feel on top of the world this morning.” In other words, no hangover. Something to do with White Rock’s “alkaline effect.” Other advertisements of the period promise that White Rock keeps you “on the alkaline side.” Whatever.

Related reading
All OCA Zippy posts (Pinboard)