Date:  Wed, 20 Sep 1995 17:48:31 -0400

From:  "Cynthia L. Moore" <CLM777[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]AOL.COM>

Subject: Re: ?Gordon Bennett & PEW litzer



Just a note on "Gordon Bennett." I ran across it last night just by

coincidence in Made in America by Bill Bryson. The book is about the history

of American English. Bennett was an eccentric newspaper baron who would

"announce his arrival in a resturant by yanking the tablecloths from all the

tables he passed." In England, he became a celebrity because of this

behavior, and the expression "Gordon Bennett!" is used there by someone who

has just been drenched by an incompetent waiter or exposed to some other

indignity.