LINGUISTIC CAUSES
Re: The ongoing debate: Poor Boy versus Po-Boy
Thank you for fighting the good fight to maintain the proper name for our iconic New Orleans sandwich. I have a running dispute about this with my daughter, who otherwise is a true New Orleans purist. Every time I hear “__’ boy” used, it’s like chalk screeching across the blackboard and I feel like I’m in a cheap movie or TV series about New Orleans where everyone sounds like they’re from backwoods Alabama. Some things are worth fighting for.
If you want to take up any additional linguistic causes you could join me in an effort to outlaw the use of “proactive.” Can one be “prodormant” or “conactive?” Also of concern is “forefront.” Is there a “foreaft,” “forerear”, “aftfront” or “rearfront?”
Ashton Avegno Jr.
River Ridge
Ed. Reply: There’s good news in that Parkway Bakery, one of the most important purveyors the sandwich has started using “poor boy.”
Now if only a certain daily newspaper and a local festival could use the proper name the effort could prevail.
ALL SAINTS TO EASTER
Re: “Seersucker and White Suits: New Rules.” Streetcar column by Errol Laborde. March 2012 issue.
I lived for a few years with a German family who drank hot tea at supper from All Saints to Easter, and iced tea from Easter to All Saints.
The first few years of Archbishop Shaw High (early 1960s) students wore ties from All Saints to Easter.
Growing up, I remember my father observing Straw Hat Day each year. Coinciding with that was the annual rolling up and storing the heavy rugs and replacing them with lightweight rugs. When Dad started wearing his felt hat again, we changed back to the heavy rugs to be ready for winter.
Lawrence Hecker
New Orleans
Ed. Reply: Straw Hat Day was when men wore straw hats to celebrate the arrival of summer. The date was usually May 15, a couple of weeks ahead of Memorial Day which has become the unofficial start of the summer season. We propose bringing back Straw Hat Day. We know Meyer the Hatter would love it.
