THE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury My aged Uncle Mort is bristling with disgust about the Dallas Cowboys. He cut his frustrations loose after the National Football League teams were trimmed to four, thus excluding Dallas. “If I have ulcers, they’re bleeding badly, but Maude thinks that whether or not I have ulcers, I’m doubtless a carrier,” he jokes. Anyways,
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Last week’s piece about misstatements on the radio–as well as other communication boondoggles–resulted in readers’ contributions of foul-ups they’ve either heard of or experienced. Revisiting the topic allows me to give due credit to one Rev. William Archibald Spooner, a 19th century English preacher. He often found himself in “verbal muddles,” typically transposing words, letters
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Time delay-–a feature that allows deletion of serious blunders–has not always been a “backstop” when there’s tongue entanglement on radio broadcasts. A classic, of course, was the announcer who said he “got his tang toungled up.” Perhaps the first nationally recognized blunder occurred in June 1921, when Harry Von Zell needed to make
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury The suggestion that I dislike cats would be erroneous indeed, splashing down in the ever-growing sea of untruths. I prefer dogs. However, I have no desire to debate or defend. Indeed, I’d rather let sleeping cat lovers lie in their slumber. Unlike the late Al Capp–best known for his satirical comic strip Li’l Abner–I’d
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury As the old year ended, so did the lives of two one-of-a-kind icons, one in the world of sports and the other in theology. They died four days apart, 85-year-old John Madden in California, and almost 101-year-old Dr. John W. (Jack) MacGorman in Fort Worth. (Dr. MacGorman was born on the day after Christmas
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury It’s just a guess when conversations about fruitcake headed south. But, if negative views of fruitcake began a few generations ago, malignment of the holiday dessert has run full bore since memory runneth not to the contrary. Disdain for fruitcake is stacking up. The many tentacles of naysayers are clutching the throats of folks
Read moreIDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury One thing we “geezers and geezerettes” have in common is that the lot of us have said something or done “bone-headed” things that disappointed our mothers. We’ve all participated in pranks that have gone south, causing our mothers to shake their heads in disbelief. Oh, how we’d like to apologize, but our moms–whose work was
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Uncle Mort, a veteran of 108 Christmases, has razor-sharp memories of long stretches of silence at various times of the day. And there were silent nights, too. Nowadays, he makes Herculean efforts to quieten things down on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. This includes turning phones to off position, stilling pendulums on grandfather clocks
Read moreTHE IDLE AMERICANCommentary by Dr. Don Newbury Creative minds at Young and Rubicon—a recognized advertising agency in New York City— have introduced jingles, catch words (as well as “catch phrases”) and slogans that have withstood the test of time And there are few tests any tougher than time. Well, I committed a king-size “boo-boo” in a recent column that warrants review. I
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Spirit Of Abilene 