There goes my trip to Iran...

Tue Sep 11 22:52:14 UTC 2001

THERE GOES MY TRIP TO IRAN...

   Yesterday, I dropped off my visa at the Iranian Embassy in Washington, D.C.  I had planned to be gone from September 17-October 23, to Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan with Mir Corp. (specialists in the former Soviet Union countries), a few days in Istanbul, and then to Iran.  The professor leading the Iran tour is the author of HOW WRITING BEGAN. It was to have been a special highlight in all of my travels.
   First, both tour companies bought the same air tickets.
   Then, passenger planes are hijacked, and they attack and destroy the World Trade Center.

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ITALIAN TRIBUNE

   I read 1941-1945 of New Jersey's ITALIAN TRIBUNE in the Library of Congress yesterday.  The years 1931-1940 are not available; 1946-1955 are also not available.  What I saw was not very interesting.  It's a four pager a week, with one page in Italian.  About once a month there would be food recipes, but they weren't notable.

22 August 1941, pg. 1, col. 1:
   Someone suggests "Hamburger Steaks" be called "Defense Steaks."
   Perhaps another bright mind will suggest spaghetti be called "Yankee Noodles."
   What about Japanese lanterns?  Why not call them "Liberty Flames"?

17 July 1942, pg. 1, col. 1:
Q.  I am six feet three inches.  How long should my skirt be?
A.  Long enough to cover everything and short enough to be interesting.

21 May 1942, pg. 2, col. 1:
_THE NEW FRONTIER_
   Every great war opens a new frontier. (...)

10 December 1943, pg. 4, col. 1:
_Biscottini di Natale_

7 January 1944, pg. 2, col. 3:
   ...(1) the world will soon be safe from the JAPANAZIS and...

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COMPACT

   COMPACT: THE YOUNG PEOPLE'S DIGEST ran in the 1950s and had a college humor section, but I didn't see much slang.

January 1954:
_The Bunny Hop_
   NATION'S newest dance craze is the Bunny Hop.  Made up by (?) set, it was discovered by bandleader Ray Anthony (whose (?) of the "Dragnet" theme has made him the Mr. Big of bandleaders).

January 1955, pg. 94 (From a 1954 story in the NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE):
_CAPITOL HILL "INTERNES"_
(...)  The six are Congressional Internes, sponsored by the American Political Science Association.  (Col. 2--ed.)  Already, in the first year of the program, the Association's proteges have proved so capable that the APSA can't fill all the demands for them.

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PIC

   I finished this, going through 1947 amd 1948 in the Library of Congress yesterday.

January 1947, pg. 1 ad:
"I'm the ideal gift for the man 'who has everything'."
(Mr. Bartender--ed.)

January 1947, pg. 105, col. 2:
_"DUN IN THE BUN"_ is the password for the Pronto Pup, the latest thing in the hot dog department.  By using a special flour-mix a batter can be made in which the frankfurter can be dunked before immersion in a deep fryer.  Three minutes later, out comes the weenie cooked in its own jacket.  Mustard and relish supplied by the management but you'd better bring your own red hot!
(A "corn dog"?--ed.)

April 1947, pg. 108, col. 3:
   Like Sam Goldwyn and Gregory Ratoff, Michael Curtiz (Curteez), veteran Hungarian-born movie director is renowned for his picturesque mishandling of English.  A classic stems from his request for riderless mounts for a cavalry scene years ago, "Send me the empty horses," he bellowed.  Once he berated a derelict assistant, "Next time I want a fool to do something, I go myself."  Curtiz now heads his own film company and "The Unsuspected" will be his initial release.  He won an Oscar in 1944 for "Casablanca."

June 1947, col. 1:
   ...a genuine hillbilly or its modern equivalent, a "city billy."  At first, "city billies" were resented as imposters cashing in on a good thing, but not for long.

September 1947, pg. 32 (photo caption):
RAY ELIOT, a "player's coach," and target of abuse from armchair quarterbacks, conferring with Illinois Captain Art Dufelmeier.

January 1948, pg. 39:
_FIVE PAYOFF SHOTS_
(The basketball shots are Jump Shot, Set Shot, Pivot Shot, The Layup, and The Foul.  Dunk is not here--ed.)

March 1948, pg. 73, col. 1:
_LOX, STOCK AND BAGEL:_  During his hitch in the Army, Murray Schwartz found he had an I.Q. of 145 and an unsatisfied craving for Sunday breakfasts of lox, bagel, and cream cheese.  Back home in Brooklyn, Schwartz put the two together and came up with a flourishing small business.

April 1948, pg. 8, col. 3:
   Who's going to tell the "Snow Bunny" on your January cover that his long trip up was in vain--no toe straps?

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MORNING GLORY SEEDS

   Not in OED, RHHDAS, CDS?
   From CLYDE, January 1965, pg. 77:

_MORNING GLORY SEEDS_
_Consciousness Expanding Drugs_
(...)
by ARTHUR ROBERTS
   What you are about to read is a true account of my own experiences with the mind-expanding, or consciousness expanding morning glory seeds.

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MENSCH/MENCH

   See the 1930 citation below, from Jesse.
   From KOSHER AMERICANS (1929), pg. 80:

   I call dat _geler-en-ter, mench_ (learned man) an _emmes-e' Yid_ (true Jew).

   Pg. 101:

   "Hain't it strange dat I vonted to call you by dat name mineself.  Anyole, I ham sure you are a _ge-ler-en-ter mench_ (learned man) in Hebraish, maybe?"
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