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Spooldrippings
This Issue:
Many
Tridgets |
Many Trebecs |
Quotable Lardner
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Many people write to ask what exactly a tridget is. I wish I could tell them. The word is taken from Lardner's 1922 nonsense play, The Tridget of Greva; its meaning for Lardner is unknown to me. Perhaps, he, like I do, simply liked the way it sounds. "Greva" (or something close to it) means strike in many European languages. Post World War I Europe was no stranger to strikes. News accounts of these strikes may be the source of Lardner's use of this word. Tridget? I don't know. I learned from Bob Tridget of Australia that it is the surname of a proud clan. I had to admit to him I wasn't related. I also doubt that the family name is the origin of Lardner's use.
Another, less provocative (maybe) tridget is a three-pronged massage device marketed in England. The inventor and marketer of this product wrote me to find out why I was using her name. She said she would fax me a picture of her tridget. I waited. Then, a couple days later, I realized I had never given her a fax number. One of the oddest references to tridget I've found relates directly to me--or at least to this web site. On a site which explains trademark and how to secure it for one's business, I found the following:
Unfortunately, that porn star had to horn in on my celebrity. Go to http://www.corp21.com/Trademark.pdf for the whole story.
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| Who is Ring Lardner? |
Immediately upon turning on my TV some time ago (1 October 2002), an answer appeared on the Jeopardy screen (something like "This humorist wrote a collection of baseball letters called You Know Me Al). The question, Who is Ring Lardner.
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| Quotable Lardner |
He looked at
me as if I were a side dish he hadn't ordered. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/r/ringlardne137685.html
I've known what it is to be hungry, but I always went right to a
restaurant. http://www.basicquotations.com/index.php?aid=451
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| Ring Lardner, Ring Lardner |
I have noticed that many ebook versions of Lardner's
works have popped up since I last checked. Hard-to-find The Real
Dope is online at
http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/RealDope/00000001.htm. On the
cover page, Ring Lardner, Junior is pictured as Ring. I'm not sure
what to make of that.
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| LARDNER IN BOOKS |
At least two new Lardner collections have
been published recently. Check out Lardner on War, and
Lardner on Baseball, both edited by Jeff Silverman.
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| LARDNER Hall of Fame |
Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame Michigan Journalism Hall of Fame
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Also
unimaginable is Tridget the Midget. Lardner could have never
guessed "Tridget" would become associated with porn. In this
Internet Age, though, what isn't associated with porn? At any
rate, while doing my semi-regular Google check for all things Lardner, I
came across this lovely Lardner fan(?), Tridget the Midget, also known
as "the Squirting Princess." At least she's royalty. And for
you doubters: yes, I really found her by accident. 
