{"id":1302,"date":"2009-08-28T04:55:14","date_gmt":"2009-08-27T19:55:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-08-28\/1302"},"modified":"2009-08-28T04:55:14","modified_gmt":"2009-08-27T19:55:14","slug":"disappointed-with-bill-bryson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-08-28\/1302","title":{"rendered":"Disappointed with Bill Bryson"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n

I've posted before about my admiration for Bill Bryson's writing,\nin both\n“Renewing my Visa with Bill Bryson<\/a>”\nand\n“Good Photographers, Bad Writers<\/a>”. My favorite<\/span> all-time book – the one I'd want if I could<\/span> have only one – is\nA\nShort<\/span> History of Nearly Everything<\/a>. One clue that<\/span> he's a great<\/span> writer\nis that the subject matter of the book can be completely\nuninteresting – the very essence of boring – but he makes it enthralling. I cite as<\/span> example his books\non hiking the Appalachian trail (A Walk<\/span> in the Woods<\/a>)\nand on growing up in the 50s (Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n

I've also read his books on traveling in Australia (In\na Sunburned<\/span> Country<\/a>) and on the history of the English language (The Mother\nTongue<\/a>), both excellent! His compilation<\/span> of short magazine articles, I'm\na Stranger<\/span> Here Myself<\/a>, written for a British<\/span> audience after having\nreturned to The States after 20 years in England, is perfect for when you\ndon't have a lot<\/span> of time, because each article is just a few<\/span> pages.<\/p>\n\n

My enthusiasm, sadly, has taken a downturn<\/span> with the book I just<\/span>\nfinished, The\nLost Continent<\/a>. This book, subtitled “Travels in Small-Town America”,\nrecounts a long<\/span> trip by car on the back roads of America.<\/p>\n\n

Here's an excerpt, from page 52...<\/p>\n\n

\n\n

I was headed for Cairo, which is pronounced “Kay-ro.” I don't<\/span> know why.\nThey do this a lot<\/span> in the South and Midwest. In Kentucky, Athens is\npronounced “AY-thens” and Versailles is pronounced “Vur-SAYLES.” Bolivar,\nMissouri, is “BAW-liv-er.” Madrid, Iowa, is “MAD-rid.” I don't<\/span> know whether\nthe people in these towns pronounce them that way because they are\nbackward, undereducated shitkickers who don't know any better or whether\nthey know better but don't care that everybody thinks they are backward\nundereducated shitkickers. It's not really<\/span> the sort of question you can ask\nthem, is it? At Cairo<\/span> I stopped<\/span> for gas and in fact I did<\/span> ask the old guy\nwho doddered out to fill my tank why they pronounced Cairo as they did.<\/p>\n\n

“Because that's its name,<\/i>” he explained as if I were<\/span> kind of stupid.<\/p>\n

“But the one in Egypt is pronounced 'Ki-ro.'”<\/p>\n

“So I've heard,” agreed the man.<\/p>\n

“And so most people, when they see the name, think 'Ki-ro,' don't they?”<\/p>\n

“Not in Kay-ro they don't,” he said, a little<\/span> hotly.<\/p>\n\n

There didn't see to be much to be gained by pursuing the point, so I let<\/span>\nit rest there, and I still<\/span> don't know why the people call it “Kay-ro.” Nor\ndo I know<\/span> why any citizen of a free<\/span> country would choose to live in such a\ndump,<\/span> however you pronounce it.<\/p>\n\n<\/div>\n