Sunday's assortment of subjects
Here it is, based on what had my attention over the past few days.
There was a very interesting story on Donald Trump, page 13 of the March 25 edition of "The Week" magazine. Did you know that Trump was actually of German descent (originally Drumpf and not Trump)? Of course, this is not unusual. Lots of immigrants changed their name (many for business reasons) when they got to this country. And, you might be interested to know how the Trump family, going back to Frederick, made its money.
Speaking of "The Week," it is a very good magazine, well-balanced, and as its byline reads, "The Best of the U.S. and International Media." The best U.S. columns this week are from Slate.com, The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.
I must print, in total, a viewpoint by Vann R. Newkirk II, of The Atlantic, in "The Week."
"How y'all doing? A greeting as Southern as a bowl of grits, it can open up a dialogue with a roomful of strangers with ease. It is a magnificently elegant linguistic creation. There are no distinct second-person plural pronouns in modern Standard English. Anyone who's used English in any capacity knows that 'you' is a sorry excuse for a plural pronoun. Imagine the confusion of walking into a crowded room and yelling, 'You need to listen up!" Who would everyone assume you were referring to? How could they tell? This is some terribly inefficient language, and it's high time for a fix. It's time for y'all."
I never thought I would live long enough to hear 'em admit it. Did y'all? God Bless America. Perhaps we can survive this political season after all!
I have a Plano tackle box I bought from The Sports Center in Perry several years ago. And I have a cloth sack — red and black — that came from the Red Zone in Athens. How long I've had that sack, I don't know. I've got several other containers, sacks, plastic trays, etc., that have fishing worms, lures and all manner of fishing paraphernalia enclosed — but, for today, I decided to tell you part of what I have in the way of "fish" catching worms, lures, etc., in the above described two containers.
First, there are plastic worms and lizards — Craw Papi, Junebug Red, watermelon, black, grape, Big Dead Ringer Green Pumpkin, Zoom bait, Rage Tail, Magill Big Texan, Whack-N-Worm, and watermelon candy. This is about 20 percent of the type of worms and lizards I have and all of them at one time or another were recommended as being "very good and what they're hitting this year." Bear in mind that I may have six to eight of each of these worms, so I may have several hundred worms and lizards in all. Regardless, the ones I have are much better than the live spring lizards with which I used to fish.
Super Spook (presently my favorite) and Pop 'R Rebel are two really good top water plugs. I have both (several colors of each) in my tackle box. Devil Horse, broke-back Rapala, Jitterbug, Shadalicous (artificial shad), Shadalicous Blue Gizzard (shad) and other varieties of artificial shad and small artificial bait fish are stuffed here and there.
I seldom fish crank bait. I leave that to my fishing partner, Foster Rhodes, and he has caught lots of big bass with this bait. I have lots of artificial bait, and like I say, all of this (or most of it) was recommended to me, at one time by someone who was an "expert." One year it's shad, the next year crank bait, and then deep running broke-back Rapalas. That's why Charles Ayer sells so much artificial bait.
The Perry Rotary Bass Tournament is April 9. It's $150 for a team of two. There are good cash prizes for biggest three bass, largest bass, etc. If interested, email me, and I will have a brochure with the rules sent to you. Bring plenty of bait — all different kinds. Artificial bait, only. Have I told you about that watermelon candy plastic worm?
Let's see: Donald Trump, "The Week" magazine and lots of artificial fishing bait. But, to me, the most important is that one of my favorite words, "y'all", is gaining acceptance. Just like y'all, I knew it was bound to happen one day.
Larry Walker is a practicing attorney in Perry. He served 32 years in the Georgia General Assembly and presently serves on the University System of Georgia Board of Regents. Email: lwalker@whgmlaw.com.
This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 3:53 PM with the headline "Sunday's assortment of subjects ."