Heard on "Today on NBC"

[Charles Doyle]

I remember when Magic first went public regarding his infection: He vowed to become a "spokesman for the virus." That phrasing, too, conjured amusing images . . . .

--Charlie
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---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 09:57:42 -0500
>From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>
>Matt is questioning Magic Johnson on the amount of medicine that the latter takes daily to control his HIV. Magic answers that he now takes only two medicines a day "because the virus is _layin' dead_ in [his] body."
>
>Clearly, Magic means that the virus is _lying dormant_ in his body. However, this caught my attention because, in the 'Forties and 'Fifties in Saint Louis, we used "lay dead" to mean, "laze around the house doing nothing in particular."
>
>It may be a bit macabre, but I gotta tell y'all, the mental picture of HIV just lazin' around in Magic's bod doin' nothin' in p'ticluh cracks me up.
>
>-Wilson

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