In my Impromptus column today, I touch on the subject of cultural literacy: Could Peter Schickele have a career today? (The brilliant musical parodist has died at 88.) Would people put up with Bill Buckley’s columns? And so on. I also discuss Daniel Day-Lewis and some other interesting people. Try it here.
Last week, I had a Cincinnati journal — photos, facts, observations. Many readers responded to one comment, in particular. This one:
As I have mentioned in my column in the past, I would rather churches were burned to the ground than converted to secular uses. But that’s just me . . .
Maybe I should devote an entire piece to this subject at some point. Interesting and touchy issue.
Lots of mail about Cincinnati architecture. In particular, readers hailed two great Art Deco buildings: Union Station and the Netherland Plaza Hotel. (Formally, Union Station is “Union Terminal” — same as Grand Central Station in New York is “Grand Central Terminal.” But “Station” feels natural, somehow.)
A reader writes me from The City of The Village of Indian Hill, a suburb of Cincinnati. How did the place get that long, peculiar name? Says our reader,
The Ohio Revised Code designates any municipality exceeding 5,000 electors a city, so what was once the village of Indian Hill renamed itself “The Village of Indian Hill,” becoming, legally, “The City of The Village of Indian Hill.”
I’m a little dizzy.
Cincinnati is famous for chili, among other things. You can get it one-way, two-way, three-way, four-way, or five-way. (To look into the rules, go here.) Rick Brookhiser tells me something amusing:
A joke held that when Jerry Springer, who was once mayor, was arrested for soliciting a prostitute for a three-way he successfully defended himself by claiming that he meant chili.
Jerry Springer became a pioneer of tabloid TV, or “trash TV.” Morton Downey Jr. was another such pioneer. Here’s a subject for another article: Were these guys precursors to Trump and a Trumpified America? (Remember, too, that Donald Trump spread his fame on The Howard Stern Show.)
Finally, let’s have a little language. In my journal, I mentioned that I heard someone respond to someone else, “Do what?” He had not quite heard what the other person said. So he said, “Do what?” — which I love.
A reader says, “In the Cincinnati of my youth, old-timers would say, ‘Please?’” That makes sense. Cincinnati is, or was, a German town. And in the Old Country, you say, “Bitte?” (“Please?”).
My thanks to one and all readers and correspondents. Again, for today’s Impromptus, go here.