Sunday, January 20, 2008

Question: How many times can one man rock the same town?

Answer: At least three. but probably a lot more when you consider that I only rock that town one semi-filled living room at a time.

Had a great show Friday in San Antonio. My third stop in SA on the still-going-strong Su Casa es Mi Casa tour. Big thanks to Tom and Heidi Duke, the hosts of the evening; and to Lauri Hahn, the hardest-working-woman-who-isn't-in-show-biz-but-sort-of-pretends-that-she-is, for coordinating and planning it.

My pal James Burdine, of the ridiculously talented Burdine family (you'll remember his brother from past shows and past CD's) accompanied me for the trip, rocking the percussion. James is a great musician/songwriter in his own right, and one of the coolest people on earth. Not to mention he's one of the few people I know who never judges me for having an encyclopedic knowledge of the Marvel Universe. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just let it go.

The show was a blast. It was pretty small -- maybe 15-20 people -- but we had a really amazing time, and I somehow walked away with more money than I usually do at gigs 20 times that size. It's really crazy how God keeps putting generous, giving people in my path. Long story there.

So that's that. I've got another show this Friday in Waco. If you're interested in that show, email me directly (ross@rosskingmusic.com) and I'll get you the info. I'm pretty sure there's room for a few extra folks.

Two more things.

First, I'm almost done with "Strange But True Vol 2," and it's a doozie. It features, among other things, Izod shirts, ethnic diversity, and trouble with the law. Sort of. You'll love it. Hopefully I'll have it up in a couple of days.

Second, I've decided to start a new tradition around here. I'm calling it "Why don't people know how to talk?" That's the tentative title. I reserve the right to change it. The basic idea is that I'll tell you about a word that people are always using incorrectly. And then we'll discuss why people don't know how to talk. Or something.

Here's the first one. You know those people that sell you a house or help you sell your house? They're called realtors. And you want to know something else, they're not called real-uh-tors. Here's a crazy idea: look at the spelling. Observe:

Real.

Tor.

Realtor.

Not this:

Real.

Uh.

Tor.

So there you go. Realtor. You're welcome. Why don't people know how to talk?

6 comments:

Dave Wyble said...

Many people are just too lazy to force their tongues into the correct pronunciation. People do say real-uh-tor but what they should be saying is re-al-tor (not real-tor).

From dictionary.com:

Re·al·tor /ˈriəltər,ˈril-/
[ree-uhl-ter, -tawr, reel-]

For future fodder, take a look here:
www.yourdictionary.com/library/mispron.html

They have realtor and my personal favorite "nuclear."

Johnny! said...

Real e-state leads to real-etor. That's where I think it's coming from.

rk said...

ok, obviously i'm not nearly as good at joke-making as i thought, since both of you are actually trying to give thoughtful, researched explanations for the mispronunciation of "realtor."

my apologies. what i meant to say was: "people mispronounce words and use them in wrong ways, and boy are they dumb. who's with me?"

LP said...

If I hear "disorienTATED" one more time... (sorry, had to pipe in)... that and the misuse of the apostrophe in plurals & possesives. Don't get me started.

bnorvell said...

Ross, I, for one, am definitely with you on this "realtor" bit. I might even go so far as to change your "and" to a "because". People mispronounce words and use them in wrong ways, because they are dumb.

BHG & Co. said...

disorieTATED... that's a good one.

Concerning real-uh-tor... these are the same people who "warsh" their clothes and open their "winders". Not dumb, just have a speech problem... i think some call it an accent, whatever.

The things that really get me is when song leaders ask you to turn in your hymnals to "page number"... it's the hymn number people.

Also, it's the book of Revelation, not Revelations. And it's Psalm (insert # here), not Psalms ___ or Psalms, chapter ____.

I think that is sufficient ranting for now... WAIT! one more.

The store is KROGER... please stop saying you are going to Krogers. No one says they are going to Wal-Marts. Does that one bother anyone else?

On another note, Ross... how can I get you to come out to East Texas to spend an evening with some of us in the piney woods of Elkhart?

-Bill Gernenz