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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Giving "Thenks".

I may have mentioned it before, but my sister Leslie has always been a prime mover when it comes to adding color to the language.
I'm not talking about the kind of accidental drivel that comes out of Sarah Palin's mouth when she invents words like "refudiate".
No, I mean deliberate, intelligent attempts to improve upon and colloquialize the language.
As Readers Digest described it, "Towards More Picturesque Speech".

She has not been without influence.
At some point, in the early 70's, she took it upon herself, at least in private, with me, to eliminate the word "thanks" from the English language.
And replace it with "thenks".
For purely comedic effect.
In public situations, she remains a civilian.
But we essentially have our own code language between us.
So since the 70's, "thanks" has never been uttered between us.
It's always, and often, been "thenks".

Yesterday was my sister's birthday, and I've mentioned before that every year I call her on her birthday as some celebrity imitating our Yiddish grandmother singing "Heppy Boiseday to You".
Continuing with that tradition, this year it was Bob Hope's turn.
In an unusual left turn for me, I decided to write a completely new set of lyrics to "Thanks For The Memories", interspersed with "Heppy Boiseday To You".
And every "thanks" was turned into "thenks".
It did not go unappreciated.

So I've now opened up "thenks" to the general public.
Maybe it's a propos, since today is Thenksgiving.
Feel free to adopt it for your own use if you care to.

It's also gotten me to think about how much thenks I feel I owe my readers.
You've all been very generous to me with your compliments, and your loyalty.
My Stat Counter gives me a pretty good idea of where my readers are, how many of you there are, how often the same ones keep coming back, and how much time they devote to reading me.
I'm flattered, and very pleased that I've apparently given so many of you so much pleasure.

So this is my Thenksgiving shoutout to my most regular readers.

I don't necessarily know whether continual hits from one location means that it is one person reading.
Maybe it's more than one member of the same family.

Anyway, I'd like to single out regular readers from Syracuse New York, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Anniston Alabama, Hawthorne, Calabasas, Lake Elsinore, and Oxnard Calfornia, Roswell New Mexico, Midlothian Virginia, Ocoee Florida, Brevard North Carolina, Cleveland Ohio, North Las Vegas, Nevada, Saugus Massachusetts, and Herrin, Illinois.
You all know who you are, and I, for the most part, don't.
I'd like to.

Anyone of you who would like to make yourselves known to me can e-mail me at macchus999@aol.com

There is also a large Los Angeles and New York contingent whom I would also like to hear from, particularly if you are in show business.
I seem to have a regular reader from the YES Network (The New York Yankees network).
As I am in New York quite frequently, maybe there are press passes or seats for Yankee games to be scored.
Just a thought.

I'd like to once again say thenks to Mark Evanier, Ken Levine, and Leonard Maltin for steering so many of you here in the first place.

And finally, I'd like to say thenks to my beloved Game Players.
The stalwarts who show up every weekend to play the Name Game that I've invented.
The fact that they keep coming back means that there must be something right with the game.
And that I can go four days a week without having to write essays.
I derive huge laughs from observing the game, as I imagine you have too.
And I take some pride at helping to develop their comedy writing skills.
Not that they need much help.

This blog has become quite meaningful to me.
I've already made some lasting friendships from it.
Not necessarily the kind you have on Facebook.
Real friends.
So please communicate with me if you feel the urge.

I know that there are many people who feel that they already have enough friends.
I'm not one of them.

Heppy Thenksgiving, all.


*****

13 comments:

  1. You're Velcome, Mark. (South Orange NJ, in case you were wondering or I haven't mentioned it before.)


    jay

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thenks for giving me something interesting to read the past year and change. Also, you're w(v)elcome for the fact that the stalwart game-players can afford you a Johnny Carson-like workweek.

    Zanuck (Parts Unknown)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, but *which* parts of you are unknown, Zan? Or are they "unknown unknowns"?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm amazed you're able to write three essays a week, be fairly interesting, and maintain a distinct, individual style. Yes, you're an experienced writer, but that still can't be easy.

    I'm from Cleveland, by the way, but I think maybe you knew that.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Kirk, until I started the blog, I had never, ever
    written an essay. I amaze even myself. And I will amaze myself even further if I can make it past "fairly interesting".

    ReplyDelete
  6. You have gone way past "fairly interesting", the previous post about JFK comes to mind, and that's one of many. "Fairly interesting" was just a poor choice of words on my part.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Then I've amazed myself even further.
    Thenks, Kirk.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I'm in Oxnard, that probably makes me your Oxnard reader. I enjoy reading.
    Maybe not, but I suspect so.
    Yes,Sarah Puglisi that public school 1st grade teacher....I have your blog on my feed reader.
    I grew up with a mom who adored musicals, so my life was rather interestingly populated with many of the shadows I find walking here, South Pacific and all.
    But I felt it would be rude to go on reading without owning it.

    Sarah

    ReplyDelete
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About Me

Hi. I am, according to my Wikipedia entry,(which I did not create) a noted television writer, playwright, screenwriter, and occasional actor. You can Google me or go to the IMDB to get my credits, and you can come here to get my opinions on things, which I'll try to express eloquently. Hopefully I'll succeed. You can also e-mail me at macchus999@aol.com. Perhaps my biggest claim to fame is being responsible, for about six months in 1975, while Head Writer for the "Happy Days" TV series, for Americans saying to each other "Sit on it."