It’s not unusual for a son to go into his father’s business, but when your dad is Evel Knievel you might want to think twice. Robbie Knievel didn’t, but he died last Friday in Reno, Nevada, at age 60 from pancreatic cancer, not some crazy stunt.
Robbie, who was thankful his dad Evel didn’t name him “Drivel,” started riding motorcycles when he was old enough to hold onto the handlebars, and performed his first show with his dad in Madison Square Garden when he was 8.
Robbie hurtled over part of the Grand Canyon in 1999, but broke several ribs upon landing. (D’oh!) It was 25 years after his dad tried to clear the Snake River Canyon but tumbled into the rocky chasm below due to a parachute malfunction. Don’t you hate when that happens?
He had three daughters and five grandchildren. He said his dad saw him as a competitor, but he was really his dad’s biggest fan.
It’s Michelle Obama’s birthday today. Michelle met the Prez when they were working for the same law firm in Chicago. On their first date, they went to see Spike Lee’s movie, Do The Right Thing.
When I was growing up, the two big international sex symbols were Brigette Bardot and Gina Lollobrigida. Gina L. died yesterday in Rome at 95. She starred in films alongside Bogart, Burt Lancaster, Anthony Quinn, Yul Brynner, Rock Hudson, and, in Europe, Belmondo, Mastroianni, Trintignant, and Montand. After twenty years of that, she turned to photography, and of her first published collection the Times stated: “Believe it or not, she takes good pictures and isn’t just trading on her name.” She also wrote, directed, and produced a film on Fidel Castro, based on an exclusive interview she had with him, and was an exhibited sculptor. She leaves a son and grandson.
Here she is, when her powers were still intact. Smoky eyes.
I found today’s puzzle a little blah, or, if you prefer, meh. The clue at 8D was “Sketchy behavior,” and the answer was SHADINESS. It elicited the following note from LMS:
“I watch enough crap Housewives TV to know from SHADINESS. Since it refers to behavior, I wonder why the inventors of English didn’t go with “shadery” instead. A Housewife once referred to another woman’s gossip as some major bitchassment, and I was stunned, humbled, and deeply impressed by the inventiveness.”
At 26A, the clue was “Aw rats,” and the answer: DAGNABBIT. Here’s either an interesting or painfully boring discussion of that unusual word:
“Dagnabbit,” is, of course, a taboo deformation of the word “goddammit.” Let’s break down “goddammit” into two parts: “god” and “dammit.”
One strategy is called metathesis, which is a switch of sounds within a word. Pretty simple: instead of “god,” you’d say “dog.” Use some dissimilation for the vowel—change “ah” to “agh”—and you end up with “dag.” Excellent! Halfway done!
“Nabbit” as a switch for “dammit” is more fun, because we get to use both dissimilation and metathesis. “M” and “n,” remember, are paired together, very similar sounds. So swap out one for another. “D” and “b” are also pairs: they’re called stops, which means that you halt the movement of air from your mouth. (That’s as opposed to a sound like “s,” which could theoretically go on for as long as you have air in your lungs. But you can’t make the “d” or “b” sounds without stopping air from flowing.)
So using dissimilation, we get to “bannit.” Pretty good, but not great. What if we use metathesis to swap the position of our new consonants within that word? Ah ha! Nabbit. Put them together and we’ve figured out dagnabbit.
[Ouch — my brain hurts.]
Actual headline in the NYT today on page A12: Crackdown On Sick Days Is Hindered By Sick Days.
I was not surprised to learn at 56A today that IKEA is an acronym. But I had no idea it was from: Ingvar Kamprad, Elmtaryd (the farm where he grew up), and Agunnaryd (his hometown in Småland, southern Sweden).
Now aren’t you glad you’re a regular reader of owl chatter? Where else will you get vital information like that? I ask you.
The clue at 35A was “Whom one might go see at ‘tooth hurty,’ per a classic joke.” You all know that one, right? DENTIST — “2:30” is “tooth hurty.”
A Rex commenter confessed to not knowing the joke and sought an explanation which was quickly provided. (The community takes care of its own.) And I added the following:
For those of you who are craving more bad dentistry jokes (and, let’s face it, who isn’t?):
1. A Texan is in the chair. The dentist says “Everything looks fine.” The Texan says: “Drill anyway, Doc — I feel lucky.”
2. Mrs. Johnson is in the chair. Just before the dentist begins to drill, she reaches up and grabs him by the nuts. He says, “Mrs. Johnson, what in the world is going on?” And she says: “Now, we’re not going to hurt each other — are we?”
One of the features of the NYT Opinion section is a weekly conversation between Gail Collins (on the left) and Bret Stephens (on the right, but not a Trump supporter). I was happy to see Stephens refer to the obituary of Adolfo Kaminsky today, the anti-Nazi forger, discussed in owl chatter recently. (Kaminsky was part of a French Resistance effort that saved 10,000 lives, mostly children.) Stephens called it “the single best piece in The Times last week.” He said the piece is a powerful reminder of Rabbi Hillel’s declaration in the Mishna that, “In a place where there are no men, strive to be a man.”
Amen to that, Rabbi.
Thanks for stopping by.
The Wellington Files 