June 28, 2004
You get to solve my stupid weekend conflict!
This is an issue so stupid, so worthless and so irrelevant that the only place I could possibly solve it is here on this blog.
The scene: Saturday, at Saint-Ex. Sitting at the table with my goblet of Stella Artois (which is the same price as a much larger pint of the same stuff downstairs. Go figure.) A friend calls me, looking for the bar. The phone conversation goes as follows:
ME: "It's on 14th and T."
FRIEND: "Where?"
ME: "14th and T."
FRIEND: "P or T?"
ME: "T"
FRIEND: "What?"
ME: "T, as in 'I pity the fool!'"
FRIEND: "OK, see you in a few minutes."
Twenty minutes later, my friend walks into the bar, furious that I gave her incorrect directions. Apparently, she thought I meant "P as in Pity" Instead of "T, like Mr. T, who says 'I pity the fool.'"
Who's right - me or her?
Posted by rj3 at June 28, 2004 10:34 AM
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Comments
Ironic, hipster 80s pop culture references are fine in regular conversations, but when giving directions it’s probably best to be straight forward. Sorry rj. She’s right.
Posted by: chris at June 28, 2004 11:32 AM
she is. the P is the more direct connection, because the word is right there in the sentence, whereas you have to take another step from that sentence to get to Mr. T.
Posted by: nm at June 28, 2004 12:24 PM
But why wouldn't I have just said "P as in Pity" instead of finishing the sentence if there wasn't some additional meaning?
Posted by: Randolph at June 28, 2004 1:13 PM
most of us are not trained to search for hidden meanings in directions... i'm sticking to my original ruling.
Posted by: nm at June 28, 2004 1:42 PM
I've got to go with CS and NM - sorry. As in 'I piddy the fool' indicates a P, not a T.
Posted by: Aaron G. at June 28, 2004 2:00 PM
4 strikes, RJ. P as pity, T as in the other ones.
Posted by: Michael at June 28, 2004 3:58 PM
You're right. Any person who knows you well enough to meet you for a drink should know to take a wacky answer like "T, as in 'I pity the fool'" one step further.
Posted by: MG at June 28, 2004 5:51 PM
Ugh. I lose. From now on, I'm only meeting people on hard-to-confuse named streets.
Posted by: Randolph at June 29, 2004 8:55 AM
I guess you can start by meeting people on Church and Swann.
Posted by: Chris at June 29, 2004 11:31 AM
When I heard you say "T, as in 'I pity the fool,'" I was a bit concerned that it might be ambiguous. I made the Mr. T linkage right away, but probably only because one of my HS friends had photoshopped Mr. T looming over Jester Tower (huuuge U of Texas dorm building that's widely regarded as a shithole), saying "I pity the fool who has to live here"
I, on the other hand, had to contend with Aaron's "uh, I think it's at 14th and U" until, ironically, Randolph cleared it up.
Posted by: Amanda at June 29, 2004 12:04 PM
Hey hey. That's not entirely true. I said it was SOUTH of 14th and U by the black cat. Which is true. I just didn't tell you the specific cross street, because, umm, I wanted you to explore the city more... Those of us who live in the city don't have to know street names, because we know how to get places. It's only you suburbanites who insist on knowing exact corners..... :-)
And I never would has said it's on "T Street, as in 'I Pity the Fool'. (Which still should be spelled piddy, cause that's what it sounds like).
Posted by: Aaron G. at June 29, 2004 2:57 PM
First of all, if you spelled everything the way it sounded, you woodent sownd very smart.
Second of all, "south of U" could be S Street, R Street, or Richmond, for that matter.
Posted by: Randolph at June 29, 2004 4:15 PM
When I hear "south of U and 14," I would think of it as being the southeast or southwest corner, except that you had enough "I think"s in there that I decided to seek a second opinion.
I generally prefer to explore the unknown in the broad daylight... something to do with living in Baltimore for a few years.
Posted by: Amanda at June 30, 2004 1:00 PM