The site I used to use to catalog disturbing search requests that came into my sites is gone, meaning that when I have nothing to post I can’t fill space with how many people are searching for a certain TV host’s euphemized cleavage. But I still get the odd searches. One of yesterday’s hits was “where was the schenectady massacre” – and for history buffs who love to point out that the Battle of Bennington not only wasn’t in Bennington, it wasn’t in Bennington County or even what today passes for Vermont – it’s not necessarily so odd a question. But still, one could reasonably guess that the Schenectady Massacre, coming up on its 319th anniversary on a cold February night, did in fact take place in Schenectady.

What isn’t so obvious, and what escapes the notice of those touting the new sorta-indie film “Synecdoche New York” is that the oldtimers among us don’t pronounce it to rhyme with the fairly obscure figure of speech, but instead to rhyme with “day.” Many early spellings – and there were many – ended in ‘a’.

This is why I’m not invited anywhere, by the way. Because I cannot make small talk about the World Series, which I’m told some team won earlier this week, but instead I talk about things like this.

4 Comments

  1. Thanks for calling my attention to “Synecdoche New York.” I used to cover the company that released that film, Sony Pictures Classics, back in a previous lifetime. Now, I’m so out of the loop that the last film I saw was “Eastern Promises” on DVD, which I rented (for free!) from the Beacon library last week.

  2. Our library is the source of ALL outside DVDs these days — and they have a great foreign collection. I’ve been a little stunned at what they’re willing to carry.The name of “Sony Pictures Classics” has always annoyed me, in the sense that they don’t release true classics, and few of their films are likely to become such. But a studio can dream.

  3. We all know how we learned it: Skin – neck – titty.Long time off-line, perhaps to your great relief? Anyway, I’ll be looking over your archives at my leisure — to catch up as best I can.Two in college now. I think that this will be the diet that REALLY works.Missed ya. N

  4. Outsider! How dare you!Yeah, I’d tried to reach out by email a couple of times but those efforts fell flat. I’m still at the same address, it’s somewhere on my page too. Holla back.BTW, there’s some sort of a group of SGHS types coming together on Facebook. I’m just saying.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *