A feature of this column, since it began in 2001, has been an appreciation of regional and local speech—and a worry about the evanescence of such speech. My sister has sent me this article from the New York Times. It tells us that Logan Airport has chosen “its new voice.”
“Let’s go, Bahhston,” indeed.
We learn that “a pipe fitter from Massachusetts beat out thousands of other applicants to provide the voice that welcomes travelers to Boston Logan Airport.”
The voice belongs to Chris Donisi, whom NPR’s Scott Simon interviewed, here. That is a Boston voice out of Central Casting.
I lived in Boston (the area) in the mid-1980s. Older people spoke with Boston accents—the plural is important, for there has never been just one Boston accent. But younger people were speaking with neutrality.
And that was 40 years ago!
It is natural for regional and local speech distinctions to fade out, for reasons I have gone into many times (prosperity, mobility, etc.). But what a loss it would be, to lose them altogether.
I know that virtually everything “evolves”; no one is naïve around here. Still, I would like to hang on to some things of the past (for as long as possible).
***
Responding to my column about the midterm elections, a friend wrote, “I told my kids, both of them Democrats, that I was glumly glad about the outcome.”
I was struck by that phrase, “glumly glad” (with a “gl” at the start of each word). I shared it on social media. Many people responded that they could relate. They, too, were glumly glad about the outcome of the elections.
***
At Onward and Upward and on social media, I have expressed my disappointment in the defeat of Pennsylvania congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. He is something all too rare: a pro-Ukraine, anti-Putin Republican. And he is loud about his beliefs.
On Twitter, I wrote, “I hope he stays involved in public life somehow.”
Congressman Don Bacon (R., Neb.) replied,
He’s been a great friend and colleague the past 10 years. He’ll do more and God has a plan.
Well, I trust the same is true of Don Bacon—who is retiring at the end of this term. He, too, is pro-Ukraine and anti-Putin, strongly so.
Bacon and Fitzpatrick have been something like a caucus of two …
***
When Vivek Ramaswamy called Amy Acton to concede the U.S. Senate race in Ohio, Acton let the call go straight to voicemail. This, according to Ramaswamy himself.
On social media, I noticed some tut-tutting by Republican journalists. (Ramaswamy is a Republican, Acton a Democrat.) They said that Acton was uncivil not to have accepted Ramaswamy’s call.
I doubt I would have accepted it either. The ad that Ramaswamy ran against Acton was not rough-and-tumble politics; it was despicable. (I am tempted to upgrade that word—downgrade it?—to “evil.”)
(For a piece of mine about Ramaswamy and the ad, go here.)
When asked about the call that she let go to voicemail, Acton spoke about the offending ad: “I think we can’t normalize behavior like this. It was so beyond the pale. So, no, I have no intention of speaking to him. I do believe that leaders’ words matter, and we need to hold folks accountable.”
I agree. Some things, you can’t shrug off. You can’t grin and bear them. In 2004, I understood why Dick Cheney told Pat Leahy to … perform a difficult gymnastic act.
***
Not often these days do you hear a defense of good old-fashioned American pluralism. So my ears pricked up at the governor of Illinois, JB Pritzker, when he said,
We should not fear immigrants and people of color and women. We should not fear the LGBTQ community. We should not fear the beardos and the weirdos. And we should not fear the Canadians.
That last was a laugh line, given the belligerence of our government—of the Trump administration, at least—toward our northern neighbor.
Pritzker went on,
We should not fear the strange, wonderful mix of diverse opinions and backgrounds and ethnicities that make our communities rich, our food good, our culture strong, our work ethic durable, and our country so uniquely American.
(I wish I could remove the word “so.” “Uniquely” is enough.)
***
The governor of Illinois and I share a first name. He is Jay Robert Pritzker. “JB” stands for “Jay Bob.” And he styles his initials that way: “JB.” JD Vance does the same: “JD.” Yet some publications render those initials “J.D.” or even “J. D.”—which makes me eyes wince.
***
Hang on, stick with language. A reporter for The Free Press said, “Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed gave his victory speech in Arabic last night.” Evidently, El-Sayed used four Arabic words, accounting for 0.27 percent of the speech.
The Free Press ran a correction:
This post and opinion video states that Abdul El-Sayed gave his acceptance speech in Arabic. That’s not accurate. In fact, he said a few phrases in Arabic, but the majority of his speech was in English. The Free Press regrets the error.
The “majority of his speech”? Remember that “majority” is for countable things: oranges, sheep … Otherwise, go with “most of his speech,” “most of his time” …
***
More language, of a vernacular sort. In a column last week, I included a picture of my favorite sign—my favorite sign in America. This one, from the Milwaukee airport:
When you go through security screening, you get discombobulated. Afterward, you need an area in which you can get recombobulated.
A reader of ours writes,
In college, we would always say something along the lines of, “Give me a minute to get sheveled.”
Nice.
***
Do you know about Holland, Michigan? The capital of Dutch Michigan (if you don’t count Grand Rapids)? I scribbled a journal from there in 2018. Holland is notable for—what else?—its tulip festival.
Well, maybe I’m the last to know this—but Pope Leo went to high school in Holland. (The St. Augustine Seminary High School, since closed.) He was telling someone this the other day. And he said, “The Tulip Festival was always part of my life.”
Huh!
***
Herbert Blomstedt, the Swedish conductor, has died at 99. For his obit in the New York Times, go here. He worked almost until the end, and worked very, very well.
In 2017, I sat down with Blomstedt for a podcast in New York. The next year, I again interviewed him, before an audience at the Salzburg Festival. (Hear it here.) Blomstedt had come straight from a concert with the Vienna Philharmonic—and a great concert it was (Sibelius’s Symphony No. 4, followed by another Symphony No. 4, this one by Bruckner).
He quoted Picasso: “It took me many years to become youthful.”
***
Speaking of age: I was in a convenience store a few days ago in Manhattan—one of those Yemeni-owned ones. The cashier was jovial. A youngish fellow. I said, “I’ll see you later.” He answered, “I’ll see you when I see you. And if I don’t, happy birthday.”
Had never heard that line. “Happy birthday to you, too!” I replied on leaving.
***
Speaking of leaving: I will leave you with a photo of a sunset at the range (the golf range). Thank you for reading and subscribing. Appreciate you muchly.
Count me among the "glumly glad". I support almost no Democratic Party policies, but felt it essential that the Trumpists be repudiated.
I briefly went to graduate school at the University of Rochester. The Yellowjackets, if I recall.
In my class there was a young man from Boston.
One of my life rules was “fahrmed” that day: don’t get drunk with a guy from Baaaahston if you need to know what he has to say.