TODAY'S TWD: BEATRICE, KANSAS

No, I'm still in Colorado - today we're going to Estes Park.

That post the other day about the use of "Columbia" instead of "Colombia" in an on-screen graphic for "Chuck" reminded me of a MacDonald's commercial from the seventies.

A family is on a road trip, with Grandpa along for the ride. The kids say they're hungry so the Dad says they'll stop at MacDonald's. This surprises Grandpa. "There's a MacDonald's in Beatrice, Kansas?"

In the commercial, he pronounces the town's name as "Be-a-triss". However, the town has always known itself as "Be-a-trice".

And yet, with the constant inundation of the commercial, the kids of the town started to call the place they grew up "Be-a-triss".

Not sure whatever happened with that situation, but I don't think the same problem might occur with this example. 'Chuck' is a fun show, but it's not doing that well in the ratings, so it wouldn't have the same kind of saturation effect.

Plus, not everybody's really reading the titles, and even if they are, a good portion of them either didn't notice the mis-spelling, or didn't know the correct version either. And hearing something over and over would be more powerful than reading something just once.

BCnU!
Toby O'B