Thursday, January 18, 2007

Bangers & Mash

So I'm listening to a radio report this morning about a new law that takes effect today in Bangor, Maine, making it illegal to smoke in your car if there's someone under 18 in it. I don't particularly want to get into the ins and outs of the law, though -- I'm more concerned with the radio reporter's herculean effort to pronounce "Bangor" so that it didn't sound like "banger." Or even worse, "bang 'er," which I'm not sure you're even allowed to say on NPR. The syllables were stressed so unnaturally that the city sounded like a Jack Kirby creation: Bangorr, the Thunderer from Beyond Time, or something like that.

Beware Bangorr, the Thing that Walks!

Rob

2 comments:

Chris A. said...

Bangorr, the Thing that Walks!

Best geekette bachelorette party movie ever.

Rob S. said...

I can't remember who said it (although if I had to guess, I'd say former Marvel editor Danny Fingeroth at one of his seminars), but someone once pointed out that walking was the single scariest thing a monster could do in old Marvel comics.

I can’t remember the exact titles, but stories tended to be called “Uattax Walks Among Us!” or “Bruutu: The Thing That Walked!” or “Where Walks the Gorgonn!” Jack Kitby’s art really sold these babies, so much so that it never occurred to me for years how silly the whole “walking” schtick was.