<3 is in the air--or in NYT presses

[Dan Goncharoff]

When I talk about New Yorkers, I talk about those of us who remember this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck3MRdeph5o&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwaKmF80j8A&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qG72jPE9qw&feature=related

And then there's this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXc2LApk8p8&feature=related

DanG

On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 9:37 PM, Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at gmail.com> wrote:
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: <3 is in the air--or in NYT presses
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Just to clarify--at no point did I attempt to antedate the substitution
> of "heart" for the symbol as a verb. I was simply noting that it has now
> become ubiquitous and would be puzzling to the uninitiated. As for how
> NYers read the phrase, allow me to express my doubts concerning Dan's
> characterization--I've witnessed it stated otherwise, at least, in
> moments of sarcastic wit, mocking the shirts worn by tourists, bumper
> stickers on cars, etc.
>
> VS-)
>
> On 1/10/2011 5:03 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
>> I am not sure that anyone who grew up in NY during the establishment
>> of the media campaign that generated "I ♥ NY" as well as a song that
>> repeated the lyric "I love New York" many times could read it any way
>> other than the song lyric
>>
>> DanG.
>>
>> On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 4:48 PM, Jeff Prucher<jprucher at yahoo.com>  wrote:
>>> Anyone wanting to antedate this usage should search out the 1984
>>> spoken-word/comedy album "I Gotta Go" by Ian Shoales (of Duck's
>>> Breath Mystery
>>> Theater fame), which includes a track titled "Hearts on
>>> Bumperstickers". It's
>>> basically a rant against the use of the heart symbol on
>>> bumperstickers, and he
>>> explicitly pronounces the symbol as "heart" throughout. After
>>> listening to this
>>> track roughly a zillion times, it became impossible for me (and
>>> several of my
>>> friends) to read "I ♥ NY" as anything other than "I heart NY". Â
>>> (Antedaters
>>> beware: Shoales has released at least one other album with the same
>>> name which
>>> doesn't include the relevant track. He also released a book of the
>>> same name; I
>>> don't know whether it includes the relevant piece or not.)
>>>
>>> Jeff Prucher
>
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