Bus Stop

The endless rain brought to mind a song I loved, absolutely LOVED, back in high school, Bus Stop by the Hollies (1966). The song tells a charming story about a young man who invites a young woman to share his umbrella while they wait for a bus in the rain. I have not listened to this song in a long time but I still remember all the words. Well, all but one of the words.

Isn’t youtube wonderful? First, I found a video with two of the leads from the original band singing the song just a few years ago. One of those fellows is Graham Nash, who later went on to great fame with David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young. Then I found a rather gritty video of the Hollies singing the song live in the 1960s. Listening to this song today, with headphones, for the first time I correctly heard that word I had long not known:

That’s the way the whole thing started,

Silly but it’s true.

Thinking of a sweet romance

Beginning in a queue.

All these years I thought the last word was “dew,” although that never made sense to me. Finally, the mystery is solved! Maybe it was not just the headphones: maybe it was also years of working at Pfizer with colleagues from the UK, and travelling there many times. They really do use that word “queue” to talk about waiting on what we call a “line.”  

We heard another good example to add to the collection of malapropisms.

The newscaster was describing conditions in the mid-Atlantic, which is still recovering from the most recent round of tornados*. The newscaster said that conditions in the area were exasperated by the current storm. I am quite certain he meant to say that the conditions had been exacerbated by the storm. However, there is little doubt that the people who live there are quite exasperated at this point!

Stay safe and dry!

Love,

Rebecca

*tornados, or is it tornadoes? Seems either is correct.