did good/played real nice

[Rudolph C Troike]

Lynne,

        It's good to get back in touch with reality occasionally. "They
played real nice" sounds as close to something that might be truly
"General American" (I shudder to use the term, given its history). You can
certainly hear that from New York state to Texas or Arizona (I don't vouch
for Californians). Ditto other examples like "This clock runs slow", "He
came down easy on me in his criticism", "Larry let the Irish coffee slide
down slow and easy as he sat in the SF terminal watching the fog come in
on little cat feet."

        Rudy