Date:  Mon, 27 Mar 1995 22:48:14 -0500

From:  Leo Horishny <Leo_Horishny[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]POL.COM>

Subject: Re: Gesundheit!



kelly[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]bard.edu wrote:



The Cincinnatian says "Please," not "Bitte," though the usage is calqued

 from the German use. No reason to say "Gesundheit," since the identical

context elicits an exact situational equivalent, Bless you! or God bless

you! Perhaps you're really asking the question: why don't Cinci-folk

say "Health!" when someone sneezes. That would be the exact balance for

"Please?"





I see that. You're right, I should have asked why locals don't say,

"Health!". It is still curious to me, although I now understand my comparison

was incorrect, how the one reflexive response is anglicized and becomes a part

of local speech, yet another baldly Germanic term (a conversational phrase?

I'm not sure how to properly refer to these terms in this case) is rarely

heard here in Piggy City.



The Porkopolis moniker comes from the slaughtering concerns here--so many so

that at times in Cincinnati's past there were more pigs than people. They

were commonly driven (herding term driven, not motorized term!) down Spring

Grove Avenue into Kahn's loving embrace exiting the building in a much more

slim and trim fashion

<G>. This population disparity occurred not too terribly long ago either, if

I remember correctly. What else was mentioned about the Porkopolis handle?



FYI, atop 2 pillars at a riverside park, are 2 flying pig statues. You can

see them when driving down I-471 from I-71

in downtown Cincinnati. The pillars are crennelated like 2 steamboat

smokestacks, symbolizing the riverboat heritage and the pigs are there to

celebrate the porcine background to the local economy. The wings were just a

touch of whimsy, yet, OH!, the controversy they stirred up! And this was some

time before Wayne and Garth's pet phrase about flying pigs hit the airwaves.



leo_horishny[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]pol.com