Chick flicks and Chick-fil-A
By Bob Emery
Suzanne and I went to what I would call a “chick flick” the other day titled “Hope Springs” starring Meryl Streep and Tommie Lee Jones. Now first, I don’t normally do movie reviews in this column and second, I don’t do chick flicks but in this case I will make an exception. If you’ve seen the film, you will know what I am talking about and if you haven’t, maybe this will get you to the theater.
Bob Emery
The storyline is simple: longtime married couple, children grown and gone, hum drum sameness in their everyday life, bacon and eggs for breakfast, fall asleep in front of the TV, no spark, no sex. Arnold (Jones) is a real curmudgeon who harrumphs his way through the day with monosyllabic grunts and an occasional peck on the cheek for his bride, ending the day with the Golf Channel and a separate bedroom. As we watched the film and Arnold displayed some of his complacent grumpiness or unwillingness to get out of his rut, I could hear Suzanne mumbling, “I know that guy, I know that guy.”
Kay (Streep) sees an ad for marriage counseling and signs herself and Arnold up for a $4,000 week-long session in Maine. The rest of the film is a funny but moving journey through self realization, self doubt and selfishness. The shrink, Dr. Feld (Steve Carell), plays the straight man who guides Arnold and Kay through bouts of denial, anger and an occasional laugh. What struck me most about this film was the effective portrayal of how easy it is to fall into a complacency trap and not recognize it. I like to go to the movies and be entertained, but I also like those that make me think and “Hope Springs” did just that. You will enjoy it.
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It never fails to amaze me how worked up people can get over nothing. A recent statement by Dan Cathy, president of the Chick-fil-A fast food chain, against gay marriage has everybody in an uproar, both pro and con. Now I could care less what Cathy thinks about gay marriage but I do care about butchering the English language. Don’t the people in Georgia, home of the fast food chain, know how to pronounce the word filet? Do menus in the South feature “fil-A-Mignon? fil-A of swordfish? To boot, an “A” standing alone is a short “A” and is pronounced “uh.” It should be pronounced “Chick-fil-uh.” Besides, their sandwiches are as bad as their grammar.
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Summer update on grandson Nyack. Our boy was here in Poway for a week and a half attending Sea Monster Camp at the Natural History Museum, Spanish language camp in Balboa Park and swimming, swimming and more swimming. Last year we were worried about Nyack’s safety in the water but not this year. He can easily swim the length of our pool and at the beach he headed out into the waves with his Boogie Board and rode the “big ones” with the best of them. We have seen the 7-year-old learn to read, swim and use an amazing vocabulary in just the past year. And he can use Grandma Suzanne’s iPhone with ease. I can’t even turn it on.
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on Aug 16 2012. Filed under Columnists.
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From a modern day teacher:
"I have seen attempts to make rules governing the pronunciation of "a" in English sentences. Some of them are in older textbooks, but modern books rarely try to be firm about it. The truth is that there are a variety of acceptable ways to do it. And the actual pronunciation in any particular case depends on the speaker's exact intentions at the time of speaking. He or she may wish to emphasize something (within the context of the discussion taking place) by pronouncing "a" (or, for that matter, other words in his statement) in particular ways. "A" can be correctly pronounced as the letter "A" in the alphabet. It can also be pronounced as "uh" (generally called schwa by teachers and linguists) with complete correctness. There are also regional variences in the way "a" is pronounced. All of them are correct. What is important is that the person or persons to whom the speaker is talking clearly understands what is being said, and to a large extent, that depends also on the degree of expertise held by those persons."
I personally understand the intent of Chic-fil-A and think it is an ingenious name.
Tom, Somewhere out there, a hobby awaits you.
Truett Cathy (Dan's Father) started the business in 1946, when he and his brother, Ben, opened an Atlanta diner known as The Dwarf Grill.
Truett developed a recipe for chicken sandwiches in the early 1960s and trademarked the name "Chick-fil-A" in 1963. He personally came up with the name Chick-fil-A as a play on the words 'chicken fillet' with the 'A' at the end standing for top quality.
Proper grammar is hardly ever a factor in choosing a catchy, brand able, high recognition, distinctive, and trademark able company or product name or logo in business.
Bob- If you don't usually like 'chick flicks' but run across one you do enjoy and recommend like 'Hope Springs' you could call them Chick-flick-A.