Thursday Three-fer

1. You know I hardly need more reasons to love Johnny Depp, but just in case: A 9-year-old girl in Greenwich (UK) wrote this letter to Captain Jack Sparrow: "We are a bunch of budding young pirates and we were having a bit of trouble mutiny-ing against the teachers, and we'd love if you could come and help." So what did he do? He showed up in full Captain Jack Sparrow regalia at the school! Great story here.

2. Remember when I read Infinite Jest last year? Here's a diagram of the book (with a misspelling of Kate Gompert's name, but impressive nonetheless).

3. I forgot to mention this when I reviewed Major Pettigrew's Last Stand the other night; it's an anecdote I told at our book group meeting. Growing up in Boston, I always called liquor stores "package stores." Yes, really, that's what they're called here (and also in Connecticut* and Georgia, according to Wiki). We would speak of heading to the "packy" for some beer, or making a "packy" run. Fast forward to my junior year spent in London, where I didn't realize that this was not only a regionalism, but a word that sounded an awful lot like something else. I had a British boyfriend, and I never thought twice about suggesting we stop at the "packy" for some beer and cigarettes. What I didn't realize was that it sounded exactly like I was suggesting we stop at the "Paki"—that is, the Pakistani shop on nearly every corner that sold beer, cigarettes, and so on. It finally came out one day, and he was very relieved to learn that I didn't have this one isolated bit of bigotry in me.

*Indeed, my friend Janet, who grew up in Connecticut, told me that in North Carolina she once asked for directions to a package store. She carefully followed the directions and ended up at a UPS store.

Comments

[Tonya]

The UPS store would definitely be where you'd end up here in WA, too! ;o) The differences between regions in our country never cease to amaze me. I lived in Maine briefly and I honestly felt I was in another country. (As well as 20 years in the past!)

[Kathy]

They don't all them Package Stores here in GA, because I have used that term here and I get... the blank stare - and the - "I thought you had to go buy beer" look. But I will say, it is hard for me to remember that in MA you don't sell beer/wine in the grocery stores (or at least most of them) and here in GA they do sell beer & wine in the grocery stores - so convenient!

[Carolyn]

Hilarious! As a college freshman in Boston who hailed from Miami, I had to learn not just about "packies", but also about "frappes", "grinders", and "wicked good/bad". Boston was an amazing place to go to school. I miss those beautiful fall "foliage" weekends!

[Elena]

And in Philadelphia, liquor was (is?) sold in "state stores." Never even heard of a package store until I moved to Connecticut.