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

[Jonathan Lighter]

Funny about this heart business. I always "read" and thought of the phrase
as "I love New York," never as "I heart New York."  However, I was not aware
of my mind articulating or consciously translating the symbolic heart in any
particular way.  The heart clearly *meant* "love" but did not seem to
require or elicit the word intself.

Only many years later did I encounter the spoken or written phrase "I heart
New York" (with variant direct objects).
JL
On Mon, Jan 10, 2011 at 10:41 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: <3 is in the air--or in NYT presses
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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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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> >
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