| At
Large Business Briefs Cartoons District Court Report Editorial Gone Fishin' Letters to the Editor Real Estate Transactions Sports Sports Highlights |
| Art Bestsellers Dance Edibles Film In Print Music Theater |
| This
Week's Happenings Save
That Date Ongoing Events Groups Libraries Museums and Tours Children's Resources Hotlines 12-Step Programs Religious Services Volunteer Opportunities |
| Achievements Astrology Birds Births Community Shorts Dean's List Engagements Garden Notes Honor Roll Obituaries Off North Road Short Subjects Town Meetings Visiting Vet Weddings |
| Aquinnah Chilmark Edgartown Oak Bluffs Tisbury West Tisbury |
The
Martha's Vineyard Times is a weekly publication.
June 9 - June 15, 2005 Edition
Web
Comments
- Email Submissions
Checking the e-mail June 9, 2005 By Doug Cabral Toodle-oo In this space last week, I recorded the names of pleasure craft, mostly powerboats, that struck me, and may strike you, as less than nautical. In the column, I repeated an appeal I overheard on the marine radio from the master of Big Thing to his counterpart aboard Tootle Lou. Big Thing was looking for companionship. Ignoring altogether the implications of Big Thing’s name, Tom Hodgson of West Tisbury, a gentle man given, in my experience, to stern corrections when this writer wanders off the grammatical or journalistic straight and narrow, first telephoned, then wrote to shed some light on the murky origins of Tootle Lou. That yacht’s name is a variation of the spelling of the interjection toodle-oo. The yacht’s owner had apparently adapted the word to suit the imperatives of his domestic relationship. Tom wrote, in “followup to recent phone conversation about ‘toodle-oo.’ According to which source you search, ‘toodle-oo’ has a number of possible origins. The first written examples are supposed to have appeared in the early 20th Century, approximately 1905. One source claims it to be an onomatopoetic transliteration of the sound of the early rubber-bulb automobile horn. [Given the circumstances of the researches that led to the column last week, I have my doubts as to whether the yachtsman aboard Big Thing was capable of onomatopoetic transliteration. Ed.] “My preference.” Tom continues, “goes to the version that it is how the returning British ‘Tommies’ of World War I tried to say, ‘A toute a l’heure,’ a phrase they would have often encountered in ‘la belle France.’ This is the version you will find if you search MSN ‘eEncarta’.” Croc-ery And apparently I was wrong to suggest in this space two weeks ago that Crocs are not the footwear sensation that Stephanie Koon believes them to be. Ms. Koon is the public relations and promotions person for Crocs, a clog-like shoe made as resort wear of a distinctly non-organic material and touted as extremely comfortable and durable. Ms. Koon sent a pair, size 11, bright red, to me to try. I reported on them, not encouragingly. In Shirley’s Hardware the other day, something occurred that should please Ms. Koon. I was in search of string for a weed whacker, and Mary Mcmanama knew just where to find it. I trudged along behind her through the aisles, and she said over her shoulder, “So, you don’t like my shoes?” She was wearing Crocs, in a tasteful gray-blue, not bright red like those Ms. Koon sent me. I said maybe if I’d got gray ones, I’d have reacted differently. “Most comfortable shoes I ever wore,” Mary said. The Internet being the peeping Tom that it is [I intend no reference to Tom above] Ms. Koon was alerted to what I wrote, so she got back in touch via e-mail the other day. “Hello, she writes, my name is Stephanie Koon, and I am writing on behalf of Crocs Footwear. We are interested in acquiring two hard copies of the publication that our product was featured in. Our records show that it was on May 19, 2005, and there is a link to the online version at: http://www.mvtimes.com/news/05192005/at_large.html. If you could please respond with the information I need in order to obtain the actual publication I would greatly appreciate it.” Will do, of course, but you couldn’t say that Crocs were actually featured in the May 19 edition. Ms. Koon will have her request attended to in short order, but she may be better off speaking with Mary. Prospective partners Estelle Obih of Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, West Africa, has e-mailed me to say that she has a “desire of entering into business relationship with you. [meaning me] I prayed over it contacting you due to its esteeming nature. As a reputable and trustworthy person I can do business with and I want to confide in you for this simple and sincere business.” I don’t remember ever having met Estelle, but maybe I did at some cocktail party in Edgartown, or a Democrat fundraiser. Anyway, as she explains it, the business arrangement involves my accepting 20 percent of the $8.7 million her father had accumulated before he was poisoned by his business associates. In exchange, I must serve as guardian for her brother Frank and arrange for them to become U.S. residents. In addition, the 20 percent depends on my helping to get the box that holds the money out of the offices of the security firm now controlled by her father’s murderous business partners. And Estelle and Frank want me to hurry. Tempting as the offer may be, it’s only one of many like it that arrive each day by e-mail, and I think I’ll wait for better terms. |
|||
| Send this page to a friend: | |||
|
©The
Martha's Vineyard Times 2005 - www.mvtimes.com
|
|||
