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Wednesday, 11/14 --
Hi! We’re number one! We’re number one! In both STDs & crime, yea!
Chlamydia is not spelled “k-l-a…” Also, my mother called and asked for me not to try to catch syphilis.
Will the Ballpark Village be finished by the All Star Game?
On a scale of one to ten, the Highway 40 construction project will affect the city …
John says an eight. Laurie says four for people, but six for businesses. JC says it will be a 20. I can’t make an educated guess because I don’t take that highway enough to know. (Cop out!)
The city of Saint Louis is not in a county. This is rare. Most cities are included in counties.
Alan Zweibel was in the studio with us today. He was a writer in the first season of “Saturday Night Live.” The first thing shot for the show was for Spud Beer, “the beer that made Boise famous.” And Alan acted in that commercial parody.
John asked about jokes that have bombed, but Alan said that with writers it’s all about the process and that’s what they remember. But he told John it was a two-way street and that sometimes the actors can save weak material. John also mentioned "the Virgin Connie Swail" played by Alexandra Paul in the Dragnet remake, which Alan wrote with Dan Aykroyd.
I had a strike question. The strikers aren’t supposed to be writing, but if a good writer has an idea right now what are they doing with it? Alan says right now those people are seeking other avenues such as the stage, magazines & other media rather than stuff controlled by the studios &/or networks.
He’s in town for “The Women’s Event… Not Just for Women Anymore!” - a fundraiser for Gilda’s Club at the Ritz-Carlton tonight. Gilda’s Club is named after his friend, the late Gilda Radner & gives support to cancer patients & their families. For more information visit www.gildasclubstl.org or call 314.395.8200.
According to America in So Many Words: Words That Have Shaped America byDavid K. Barnhart and Allan A. Metcalf, here is the etymology for the word hobo:
"For two centuries, in both England and America, homeless wanderers from place to place had been known as tramps. Then an unknown American came up with a new word for them: hobo. Researcher Barry Popik has found it used in a breezy letter from New York City in the New Orleans Picayune of August 19, 1848: "Well, here I am once more in Gotham, after three years' absence -- three years which have passed as agreeably as time usually passes with people in this digging world. During that period I have floated about and circulated round to some considerable extent ... a year's bronzing and 'ho-boying' about among the mountains of that charming country called Mexico, has given me a slight dash of the Spanish."
Where this odd word came from nobody knows for sure, but the "slight dash of the Spanish" gives a hint. It could be borrowed from the Spanish hobo, or jobo, a word which appeared in print as far back as 1516. This word, in turn, comes from the Taino Indian language spoken in the West Indies and refers to a tree that grows there. How could a tree become a tramp? Well, over the centuries Spanish jobo acquired other more relevant meanings. In Mexico jobo can refer to a Guatemalan; in Cuba, correr jobos means "to play truant." So to avoid the taint of the term tramp, an American wanderer might be happy to adopt the exotic hobo.
In American English, it has continued to imply relatively higher status than vagrant or tramp. The exact definition has depended on who was using the word, but hobo has generally meant "a wanderer who is willing to work."
We did our giveaway for “The Frank Show.” The answer was Bush (isn’t it always?). The difference between “impressionist” & “impersonator” is the “flavor” of the act.
The JoY was “Let’s Talk Dirty to the Animals” by Gilda Radner.
The F4 had one from each Beatle (and our tickets to Annie at the Fox). The Vault was “Vienna” by Billy Joel. Finally, Gilda Radner’s Roseanne Roseannadanna on SNL's Weekend Update read letters from Richard Feder, who in real life is Alan Zweibel's brother-in-law and does in fact live in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
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