>>>>>>>>>>>>>'Course, Austin is also the place that has Manchacha Street (Man-chack) - but the hamlet of Manchacha is Man-cha-ka, Guadalupe Street (Guadloop), Burnet Road (burn-it) and the town of Manor (Mayner) down the road.
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>And, don't forget Pedernales (Perdenalis) river.
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>This reminds me of two oddities I remember from Virginia: Stanton (Staunton) and Fredgeburg (Fredericksburg).
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>There is a British surname Featherstonhaugh (Fanshaw). There is also a town in England by that name.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>I stuck my foot in my mouth buying a ticket in the London Underground when I said I wanted a fare to Leicester Square, pronouncing it Lie-chest-er. "Generally we pronounce it Lester," the agent said drily.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>And Cholmondeley is pronounced chumley. Strange folks those British. On the other hand, you guys south of us pronounce "colonel" as kernel. Where's the 'r'? Admittedly we to too, often.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>We had a neighbor from Boston, when I was a kid in San Francisco. He liked to say things like: "I am going to paak my caa near the baa and get a bah el of beea" or, as I would say it, "I am going to park my car near the bar and get a bottle of beer". We are a nation seperated by language.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>English and Spanish speaking countries have similar problems, which I know personally. All the locals seem to like to add things to any language and corrupt the original version! But then how "pure is the original"? :)
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The 'original' probably consists of a few grunts and some pointing.
>>>>>
>>>>>And then some.
>>>>
>>>>A local thing for me was calling these shoes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plimsoll_shoe daps. Thats a west country thing.
>>>
>>>I have been reading the latest Ian Rankin book and he has hit me with a few mysterious local idioms. Sometimes I can guess what he means, sometimes I can't.
>>
>>I'v read a couple and I'm not really a fan. Not sure why they just don't seem to press my buttons.
>
>Further ....
>
>I had an email conversation last week with a reporter from the Chicago Tribune who wrote an article about a guy who said he was a recovered alcoholic. I wrote back, truthfully, that it was a very nice article but I have one quibble. I said we never say in AA meetings that we are recovered, only recovering. A guy in his 30s is way too young to declare victory, It's a lifelong disease. There are people in my group who have been sober for 20 or 30 years and still don't feel safe. I know people personally who have fallen down after decades of sobriety. Not to be too dramatic but it's a hellhound on your trail.
>
>Sober people truly do not get this.

I will try to make this a short story, and coming from me that is a difficult task.

My dad was in the Marine Corp during WWII, and went through many battles including Okinawa. He returned home and would drink, get into fights, and go out of his mind. He got called up for Korea in 1950, and never returned home, as he and my mom were divorced six years later. March of 1951 was the last time we heard from dad.

Surfing the Internet I found a message with my dad’s name in October of 2002. After a lot of work I found his third family. Dad had passed away a few weeks before his 80th birthday, near San Diego, California. My father's father lived to be 87, I found out recently, a veteran of WW I. I met dad’s third family and have communicated with the second family. What they told me is something that I cannot appreciate, upsets and angers me at the same time.

Dad was in good health with no issues, except for extreme alcoholism. He drank 1 quart of rum each day. One day his wife went shopping and returned within an hour. Dad was dead. His heart stopped. He had consumed his 1-quart of Rum in less than one hour.

As for myself, I enjoy a pint of Guinness once in a while, or a shot of Powers Irish Whiskey. It is hard to put into words how I feel about this topic. I just read about the Irish Guitarist Gary Moore, who died from a heart attack after consuming a large amount of alcohol. We read about such things too often.

When a person has a problem they have to find an answer and not allow the problem to get the best of them. That is easy to say but I can only pray for others that they find an answer for themselves.