How to talk right in Chicago

August 20, 2003 | from an e-mail

[Non-Sequitur]

Does this bring back any memories??

Does this?

[ThreePuttinDude]

From the land of sky blue waters......
Comes the beer refreshing.....Hamms...

Many afternnons were spent falling off to sleep
hearing that song played during a Cubs game.....

Then Jack Brickhouse and Lou Boudreau would
come back from commercial just to wake me up again..LOL

[Chi-townChief]

Speaking of baseball, I missed a real obvious one. The guys on the sports talk station, WSCR the Score, are always talking about current White Sox 1st baseman Paul "Konerkel".

[DrNo]

Then Jack Brickhouse and Lou Boudreau would come back from commercial just to wake me up again.

Lou Boudreau would WAKE you up?!

He made Perry Como look hyper!

;^)

[ThreePuttinDude]

He would always call Jack,....Good Kid....and that drove me nuts....

I had a personal confrontation with Brickhouse, and never
really got over it. He was one of the cheapest people I ever met.

[Chi-townChief]

Speaking of Perry Como, how about the late Bob Elson, the White Sox radio announcer. Now there was one laid-back dude.

[mhking]

The guys on the sports talk station, WSCR the Score, are always talking about current White Sox 1st baseman Paul "Konerkel".

I got one better (although I went to high school with Score evening host Tommy Williams); I remember when that was WMAQ, and I even remember when it was a COUNTRY station!

[tophat9000]

Damm! where did you dig that up... I thought I was the only one to remember Clutch Cargo cartoons... (with the funky lips)

[Chi-townChief]

WLS was country, also. They had the Barn Dance right up until about 1960 if I recall. I lived in Cleveland at the time and the hot rock and roll stations at the time were CKLW out of Detroit and, of course, WJW dating back to the Moondog in the early 50s.

[mhking]

And from the same folks as Clutch Cargo, was Space Angel...

And here's one that'll really get you scratching your head...

[tophat9000]

Cool

I was a little kid in So.Cal and saw this watching Sheriff John & Engineer Bill

Now does anyone remember a cartoon call Colonel Bleep.? ...

The guy had a space ship and this paint ...Mars Red, Venus Blue, Jupiter Orange.. etc... if you painted the space ship that color it would fly there

[TC Rider]

20. Sliders: Nickname for hamburgers from White Castle, a popular Midwestern burger chain "Dose sliders I had last night gave me da runs"

It's not the burger, it's the five holes they punch in 'em.

[Chi-townChief]

My brother and his friends, years ago, called them Slammers!

[lizma]

I found a Clutch Cargo video on the net but no funky lips. Bummer. That was the best part!!!

[mhking]

[lizma]

I loved Family Classics! I wish my kids could see it.

I did order Rocky and Bullwinkle on Amazon. It's a start.

I was born in Gary too. I do miss Chicago. Best city, best people America has ever seen. Went back with the kids a few years ago. It was just fabulous. It's a different mind-set where kindness rules.

[Charles Henrickson]

. . . how about the late Bob Elson, the White Sox radio announcer. Now there was one laid-back dude.

The Old Commander. "A swiiing . . . and a miss. . . ."

Contrast Elson with his partner, Red Rush. "That Gonnella--it'sa swella, fella!"

[Charles Henrickson]

And to see if someone really knows Chicago, you ask them how this avenue is pronounced: Devon.

"DuhVAAHN AAvinyuh." Hey, that was "my" street! 6400 north. I lived on the 6400 block of Maplewood (between 2500-2600 west). The half-mile of Devon between Western (2400 west) and California (2800 west) was all Jewish businesses when I was growing up in the '50s and '60s. Now it's all Indian and Pakistani. Devon Avenue has been called "the United Nations of Chicago."

Everybody knows streets by what hundred north or west or south it is. Ya gotta know your hundreds. Every "400" is a half-mile and another main street. I still can tell you the name of every "400" street on the north side, all the way from downtown to Evanston, and every 400 west from the lake to Harlem.

Then ya got yer diagonals: Lincoln, Milwaukee Ave., Elston. . . .

[carlo3b]

Then ya got yer diagonals: Lincoln, Milwaukee Ave., Elston.

..on the southside, Odgen Ave., Archer Ave., Columbus, and didn't North State do an oblique from State St., and what about going the other way, Grand Ave.? Geeze, it's been a while.

[Gottwnz]

we use the word warsh in Oklahoma too.