By the way, why is it that "crabbing" and "carping" mean the same thing? Crabs and carp must be pretty disagreeable fellows, huh?
Yeah yeah yeah I know, it's of no importance whatever, and if I really cared about this stuff I could just shut off the radio. Still, it's odd. Back when I was a yoot, nearly all broadcasters referred to the NCAA as either the NC2A, the NC double A, or of course "those weasels who don't have the first idea what they're doing." This of course was because it's impossible, or at least very difficult, to pronounce an A after another A. (Oh no, and we're back to the "plural of A" problem, too!) AA works OK, but apparently the NC throws off the rhythm somehow. Or maybe it's just us Southerners. Regardless, everyone on the radio around here winds up saying NCA, and it's getting on my nerves just a little bit. Really, how hard is it to say NC2A? Worked in the '60s, worked in the '70s, worked in the '80s; ought to work now, too. Or was it a directive from "those weasels who don't have the first idea what they're doing."
I am far from one of those "Y'all ain't from around here, are ya?" people. Usually, I'm the recipient of that line instead. Still, I'm a little put off by people reading radio ad copy who say our area code funny. It's 803. For whatever reason, we've always pronounced it "Eight-o-three." Lately there's a tendency to say "Eight-zero-three" instead. I don't know why we did it the first way in the first way, I don't know why people are doing it differently now, and I don't know why it puts me off. It sounds really strange though. I guess it's a simple matter of, "You're trying to sell me something, and you don't even know the first thing about how we talk." Or something. Maybe I should send all these companies "Y'all ain't from around here, are ya?" emails.:)
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