"So Let it Be Written... So Let it Be Done"

The life and times of a real, down to earth, nice guy. A relocated New Englander formerly living somewhere north of Boston, but now soaking up the bright sun of southwestern Florida (aka The Gulf Coast) for over nine years. Welcome to my blog world. Please leave it as clean as it was before you came. Thanks for visiting, BTW please leave a relevant comment so I know you were here. No blog spam, please. (c) MMV-MMXIX Court Jester Productions & Bamford Communications

Monday, December 04, 2006

Dear Abby

As I was sitting at my desk one night last week there was a knock at my door. Some kids were handing out free sample copies of a local newspaper. I took one and immediately pulled out the sports page. At the back of the section on the page across from the comics I noticed this letter in the Dear Abby column, which I don't regularly read. I'm sharing it with you because, as a native New Englander, I can understand the humor in it.

DEAR ABBY: I come from a mid-Atlantic state. I recently met a woman named "Diana" from New England. When Diana introduced herself, she pronounced her name "Di-ann-er."
When I address her, should I pronounce her name as she does? Or should I pronounce it "Di-ann-a" in my normal manner? I don't want to seem like I'm mocking her by mimicking a New England accent, but I also don't want to mispronounce her name.
My friends and family are split on what is the most courteous. What do you think? -Beth in Pennsylvania

DEAR BETH: Your question brought to mind the old song lyric, "You say 'potato' and I say 'po-tah-to.' You say 'tomato' and I sat 'to-mah-to.'" In your case, the polite thing to do is also the safest.
Pronounce Diana's name as you normally would, and you won't get into trouble.

4 Comments:

At 05 December, 2006 11:19, Blogger Kayla said...

Do they also say
"ba-nanner"
;-)
Cute Dear Abbey

 
At 05 December, 2006 11:29, Blogger Tim said...

cr: I probably would have too, 'cuz i'm a wise azz

kayla: some people probably do...

 
At 06 December, 2006 12:07, Blogger c nadeau & t johnson said...

I don't get it...is this Dear Abby person someone of note?

 
At 08 December, 2006 13:21, Blogger American Guy said...

it's all part of our "R conservation fund"

What else are we supposed to do with all those 'ahs' we save up from words like dinnah and theatah and watah?

 

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