{"id":220,"date":"2009-09-22T16:00:55","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T21:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kaybuena.com\/blog\/?p=220"},"modified":"2010-03-26T01:52:59","modified_gmt":"2010-03-26T06:52:59","slug":"heard-on-the-ferry-going-back-to-cambridge-from-a-recreational-venture-to-revere-beach-in-1941","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/heard-on-the-ferry-going-back-to-cambridge-from-a-recreational-venture-to-revere-beach-in-1941\/","title":{"rendered":"Heard on the Ferry going back to Cambridge, from a recreational venture to Revere Beach in 1941"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 My good old dad, Col. Charles Webb Abbitt, of Appomattox, Virginia, \u00a0is a ‘well-spring’ of timely stories and sayings.\u00a0 I have memories of laughing to the point of tears over some of them.\u00a0But this particular phrase has stuck with our family for four generations. \u00a0I find it a brilliant description, one that stands on it’s own, as a culturally significant sample of the New England way of speech. Hopefully, that region’s accent remains with us today and\u00a0has not acculturated into’ SVEN SPEAK’, but what can you do?\u00a0 \u00a0Traces of it’s unique quality will still be there, where and when people still talk to each other,\u00a0there “where\u00a0each Winter is<\/strong>\u00a0too cold<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 to smile.”(1.)\u00a0\u00a0 Sometimes they even listen; but that is an acquired taste, for sure.<\/strong><\/div>\n


\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0This saying has stuck with me all my life as a\u00a0useful and wonderful, discriptive\u00a0key phrase\u00a0— with out peer.\u00a0\u00a0 It is a true conversation blocker, no question.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0This particular phrase was heard by my dad, in 1941 back when I wasn’t around to write about some of his more, amazing adventures.\u00a0 But\u00a0in the fall and winter after graduation, with a new degree in Electrical engineering.<\/strong>, after he graduated from V<\/span>irginia M<\/span>ilitary I<\/span>nstitute,\u00a0in May of that year, after some strange shuffling around the country in the Army Infantry (!), he was assigned to a\u00a0Research and development graduate program at Harvard.\u00a0 No summer Vacation for him that year.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 This time period was before America’s official involvement in WWII, as those\u00a0History Buffs that know stuff\u00a0 like that would remind you.\u00a0 He (my dad) was participating in the study and research and development that became Radar<\/span>, something really very pertinent to the present day advancement of technology, but often overlooked as a “given.”\u00a0 But it’s development we owe to the unforgotten,\u00a0with-out equals,\u00a0brave World War II Veterans of \u00a0The United States Army Air Corp and those other guys: (just a tad of comic relief, with the help of our Alies at that time…)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Times Changes<\/strong>, and so do names<\/span><\/span>:\u00a0\u00a0“The <\/span><\/span>Army Air Corps\u00a0” was then,\u00a0what is now “The United States Air Force”<\/span><\/strong>.<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My Dad has\u00a0<\/span>had some of the most amazing experiences– \u00a0But Soldiers,\u00a0in keeping to their purpose in\u00a0what seems to be insurmountable, \u00a0personal destruction, here in the United States, anyway, tend to have their own\u00a0 special brand of\u00a0\u00a0humor, with Wit and Wisdom, and a certain “Can-Do” attitude.<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0Notice<\/strong> each Branch of the Military seemed to create their own funny phrases, just to get through what must have been more than horribly tough times, more horrible than we civilians can begin to\u00a0\u00a0imagine.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0This is our infamous family Key Phrase; It is the kind of thing that floats thru the air\u00a0if you listen\u00a0closely, and have sufficient acting skills and knowledge of correct deportment and use it quite formally and naturally. With out causing a ruckus or reacting, my father and his then companion held a dead-pan-facial-expression,\u00a0even when a knee slapper like this one came along. And for this dissonant sort of comment, great protocol, repressed hilarity and calm acting skills were used. \u00a0Even as I goof-up the editing of my story, I am laughing while trying to hold my sides together.\u00a0\u00a0 So many people ,even now–have problems with my Dad’s comic delivery;\u00a0 just like that day back\u00a0then when he\u00a0returned from a balmy afternoon spent at\u00a0in recreation at the always entertaining “Rah-Veeah”\u00a0 “beach.”<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 It happened that way that day, when a shrill very loud voice belonging to a strange young woman said very publicly:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“Geeze, Freddy,…<\/span>Aint it Row-manic?\u00a0…\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0The Sky am lousey ‘mwit Staahrs.”<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Thanks Dad!,\u00a0\u00a0And to all our remaining Veterans<\/strong> of WWII, \u00a0as well as our current soldiers over seas. (with special apologies to those with the Boston-Proper accent,<\/strong> which I acquired (temporarily) when I was 15 years old, then dropped like a stone. <\/strong>
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Don’t forget…”The Sky am lousey\u00a0 ‘mwit \u00a0Staahrs”, and that\u00a0 just <\/span>maybe, we’re all looking, and wishing on the same one.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 With great respect for our soldiers no matter who, what branch, when and where they are.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have a picture of my Dad,when he was about the same age, when he was in a most serious and attentive pose while addressing the Commanding officers, as well as the whole group of\u00a0Troopers and Crew assigned to this mission,\u00a0which was\u00a0indeed the biggest air strike in the history of the planet: The Army Air Corps were in the process of\u00a0<\/em>getting supplies, gasoline and one\u00a0overwhelmingly serious\u00a0 and tenacious air support for General (5 stars)-George Patton when he drove on cross the Rhine River into Germany, at the<\/strong> beginning of the end of Germany’s tendency to<\/strong> overshoot it’s realistic goals<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\nCaroline Abbitt Sauer (AKA) Kay Buena<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

…this particular phrase has stuck with our family for four generations. I find it a brilliant description, one that stands on it’s own, as a culturally significant sample of the New England way of speech. Hopefully, that region’s accent remains with us today, but enough of that, there’s wonderfully funny quote here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21],"tags":[23,17],"class_list":["post-220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-true-and-unusual-stories","tag-irrational-and-happenstance-haircut-and-color-by-a-desperate-old-lady-with-a-broken-spirit-and-a-new-computer-staring-into-her-face-in-her-bedroom","tag-message-to-betty-jane"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":381,"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220\/revisions\/381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stgn.kaybuena.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}