Chai M. Potok; O'Kun

[Catherine Aman]

I recently disabused an adult, named Patrick, that the childrens book titled
Pat The Bunny was not about a rabbit named Pat(rick). Despite his advanced
age (30-odd), Patrick was crestfallen.

> ----------
> From:         Dennis R. Preston
> Reply To:     American Dialect Society
> Sent:         Wednesday, July 24, 2002 4:33 PM
> To:   ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject:      Re: Chai M. Potok; O'Kun
>
> Hmmmmm. Til I was pretty old I thought O'Possum was a kind of Irish
> joke name for possum.
>
> dInIs
>
>
>
>
> >>At 8:47 AM -0700 7/24/02, Peter A. McGraw wrote:
> >>Yesterday afternoon an All Things Considered, NPR announced the death of
> >>the famous writer "Chai M. Potok."  I don't remember whether the
> (female)
> >>announncer was from national NPR or our local affiliate OPB (in the land
> of
> >>"Oregon Chai").
> >>
> >>I suppose he'll now be referred to as "the latte Chai M. Potok."
> >>
> >>Peter Mc.
> >>
> >
> >
> >This reminds me. Some years ago a New Yorker named Okun (name derives
> >from Russian, where okun' designates the fish "perch") told me that
> >despite being Jewish, he was contacted as a college freshman by the
> >Catholic student group with an invitation to join. The letter was
> >sent in good faith under the mistaken assumption that his name is
> >Irish; it was addressed to him as O'Kun.
> >
> >Gerald Cohen
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> Professor of Linguistics
> Department of Linguistics and Languages
> 740 Wells Hall A
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
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>
>