The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar

March 19, 2008 7:22 AM

Bobby Dunbar was a four year-old boy that vanished in 1912, while on a fishing trip with his family in a Louisiana swamp. For weeks, searchers combed the area looking for him. The lake where he went missing was dynamited. Alligators were captured and had their bellies slit open to see if the body was inside. Nothing was found except a set of child's footprints leading to an old railroad trestle. Eight months later, the police found Bobby in the company of a drifter with a horse-drawn cart. He protested his innocence but was arrested and charged with kidnapping. Another woman came forward and claimed Bobby was, in fact, her son. But she was an unmarried fieldworker, and her claims were dismissed. The crime became a nationwide media event and the boy was returned to his parents, and their hometown held a parade in his honor. Bobby returned to his life. Ninety-one years later, Bobby Dunbar's granddaughter uncovered the truth.
posted by smoothvirus (78 comments total)

The truth in text form.
posted by Astro Zombie at 7:26 AM on March 19, 2008 [19 favorites]

Intriguing, but I don't have 32 minutes to listen to Ira Glass.
Shame on my fast-paced yet shallow lifestyle.
Please tell me the (presumably) twisty ending, chock fulla O. Henry-esque goodness?
Pretty please?
posted by Dizzy at 7:26 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

> ...uncovered the truth.

Which is what?
posted by pracowity at 7:27 AM on March 19, 2008

Thank you Astro, you old mind-reader, you!
posted by Dizzy at 7:27 AM on March 19, 2008

OK, there it is from AZ:

A DNA test indicates that the child police found with Walters years ago was not the missing boy, Bobby Dunbar. More than likely, he was the illegitimate son of Walters' brother and a servant living with Walters' parents.

Dunbar disappeared Aug. 23, 1912, during a fishing trip on Swayze Lake near Opelousas. After a massive eight-month search, Walters, an itinerant handyman, was arrested in Mississippi while traveling in a tented wagon with a boy who fit Bobby's description.

Walters maintained that the servant, Julia Anderson, gave him the boy as a traveling companion. The woman was brought to Mississippi and identified him as Charlie Bruce Anderson, but a court-appointed arbiter ruled that he was the Dunbars' missing son. [...]

So much pussyfooting.
posted by pracowity at 7:32 AM on March 19, 2008

How could the Dunbars not have known he wasn't their son?
posted by orange swan at 7:37 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

To be fair, they should have given the descendants of Julia Anderson's the same DNA test. I'd have loved to see that come back as a negative match too.
posted by seanyboy at 7:40 AM on March 19, 2008

I'm stooopid this morning:
So there was still a little boy who was never found, yes?
posted by Dizzy at 7:41 AM on March 19, 2008

Dizzy: yes.
posted by batmonkey at 7:48 AM on March 19, 2008

Dizzy: The little boy turned out to be this man.
posted by Smart Dalek at 7:48 AM on March 19, 2008 [3 favorites]

Intriguing, but I don't have 32 minutes to listen to Ira Glass.

Bad news: It's more like an hour.

Good news: Very little Ira Glass.

Cognitive dissonance-causing news: Much of the incidental music in this particular episode is taken from the instrumental album NIN released recently. Cue mental images of Ira Glass wearing his faded black NIN tshirt and painting his fingernails to match...
posted by sparkletone at 7:50 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Didn't know ol' M. Night was from Louisiana.
Learn something new every day!
posted by Dizzy at 7:51 AM on March 19, 2008

How could the Dunbars not have known he wasn't their son?

Let's see...grieving parents are occasionally known to kidnap someone else's child to replace their dead/assumed dead child. Imagine if within a year of their loss they are given the choice:

1. Delude yourself that this is your child and your family is whole and happy again.
2. Mournfully admit he's not yours and give him back to a drifter as a "traveling companion".

If we consider the context of the situation and the emotional states involved, it's a little different than the honesty and clarity that would normally be associated with other situations:

"Nope. Looks like my bracelet, but that's not my bracelet. Thanks anyway."
posted by Rafaelloello at 7:56 AM on March 19, 2008

Russians fall for it 3x harder.
posted by prefpara at 7:56 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

CRAP! My one chance to finally learn THE TRUTH, and it's "Server is currently unavailable or down for maintenance."
posted by Dave Faris at 7:57 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

How could the Dunbars not have known he wasn't their son?

I heard most of this twice over the weekend. It's hinted in the story that the Dunbars must have known what they were doing at some level; I suspect there were hearty helpings of denial all around. It's also interesting that the granddaughter who figured all of this out has been spurned by her family who thought they were descended from Bobby Dunbar and are actually descended from Bruce Anderson. They don't want to talk about it or think about it and they're pissed at her for pursuing it. Interestingly, she says that he has been warmly welcomed by her new Anderson family descendants... and that they "think she's smart".

Pretty interesting piece. What a number they must have done on that kid; he was old enough to know who he was. It's amazing that no-one cared until now.
posted by ulotrichous at 7:58 AM on March 19, 2008

I've never looked for anything with dynamite, never mind a missing kid. Were they punishing the lake for eating the kid, trying to throw a corpse into the air or what?
posted by vbfg at 8:03 AM on March 19, 2008 [11 favorites]

Ah right, yes. The article...
posted by vbfg at 8:04 AM on March 19, 2008

*Server is currently unavailable or down for maintenance*

That is the ultimate truth, Dave Faris.

And yes, I can see the parents clinging to this child who reminded them enough of their son that they could pretend he was. What happened to the itinerant guy? I expect he was executed, which is horrible.
posted by Mister_A at 8:07 AM on March 19, 2008

Still though, out there somewhere is Bobby Dunbar, just waiting for the correct time to come forward and tell what really happened.
Don't stop believing....
posted by Senator at 8:10 AM on March 19, 2008

What happened to the itinerant guy? I expect he was executed, which is horrible.

From the USA Today link above:

Walters was convicted of kidnapping in a sensational trial, but the verdict was overturned on appeal. He was never retried, and the boy grew up as Bobby Dunbar.

posted by me & my monkey at 8:14 AM on March 19, 2008

Oh well I feel a lot better, thanks monkey. He still got screwed, but at least he didn't die for this lie.
posted by Mister_A at 8:16 AM on March 19, 2008

Were they punishing the lake for eating the kid, trying to throw a corpse into the air or what?

It was probably the same reasoning as the firing of a cannon in Huckleberry Finn.

Will shooting a cannon cause a drowned body to rise to the surface?
posted by pracowity at 8:25 AM on March 19, 2008

I heard the podcast the other day -- amazing story. Very touching.
posted by grubi at 8:26 AM on March 19, 2008

They dynamited the lake to kill the gators, presumably, and to loosen debris that might hold a body to the bottom.
posted by Henry C. Mabuse at 8:32 AM on March 19, 2008

I'm kind of worried that I'm starting to like This American Life. As Sparkletone suggested, for this story less Ira Glass = more crunchy goodness.
posted by lukemeister at 8:37 AM on March 19, 2008

I've never looked for anything with dynamite

I was thinking the same thing, but I'm still laughing at how you succinctly put it. My guess is the shockwave from the dynamite kills/stuns all the gators and you just kind of "pool skim" them to the banks for the ensuing slitfest?
posted by Rafaelloello at 8:39 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

slitfest!
posted by batmonkey at 8:41 AM on March 19, 2008

They dynamited the lake to kill the gators ... to loosen debris that might hold a body ...

But I don't know why she swallowed the fly. Perhaps she'll die.
posted by Dave Faris at 8:42 AM on March 19, 2008 [5 favorites]

Of course, during the recountings and recitals of the various minutiae of this whole affair, let it be noted that Ira played the dickens out of The Mystery of the Dunbar's Child by Richard "Rabbit" Brown during the story. And it can be heard, with a point and a click or two, here as well: James Alley Blues – Richard Rabbit Brown.
posted by y2karl at 8:47 AM on March 19, 2008

Aside: Did anyone else notice all the Nine Inch Nails music in the background of the This American Life podcast?
posted by King Bee at 8:51 AM on March 19, 2008

I heard this on the radio—great story, and I hardly even minded Ira Glass.

Did anyone else notice all the Nine Inch Nails music in the background of the This American Life podcast?

RTFThread.
posted by languagehat at 8:56 AM on March 19, 2008

Jeez, haters, Ira Glass rocks.
posted by malaprohibita at 8:59 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

This is indeed the best of the web. It's a great story, told with rare depth and detail. From the cadence of those Southern voices to the "The Mystery of the Dunbar's Child" song, this is compelling reporting and story telling.

I usually like This American Life. I loved this one.
posted by cccorlew at 9:01 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

Legend has it that somewhere deep down South on nights when the moon is full and the swamp gas is just right, you can see the ghost of the real Bobby Dunbar hanging ten on the cowcatcher of an old locomotive, throwing forks and shouting "I AM SO FUCKING OUTTA HERE!".
posted by kuujjuarapik at 9:22 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I'm kind of worried that I'm starting to like This American Life.

If that's a worry, then you should definitely not listen to:
206: Somewhere in the Arabian Sea
Life aboard the USS John C. Stennis, an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea that's supporting bombing missions over Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.
340: The Devil in Me
Sam Slaven is an Iraq War veteran who came home from the War plagued by feelings of hate and anger toward Muslims. TAL producer Lisa Pollak tells the story of the unusual action Sam took to change himself, and the Muslim students who helped him do it.
168: The Fix Is In
About the price fixing conspiracy at the food company ADM, Archer Daniels Midland, and the executive who cooperated with the FBI in recording over 250 hours of secret video and audio tapes, probably the most remarkable videotapes ever made of an American company in the middle of a criminal act.
90: Telephone
posted by straight at 9:25 AM on March 19, 2008 [14 favorites]

I personally don't get the hatin' on This American Life. Sure it's formulaic, but (like Coca Cola) its a great formula. But then, some people hate Coke and love Dr. Pepper and some people hate carbonated beverages all together. Fine, but the fact that you have to tell the world how much you hate it says a lot more about you the product.
posted by spock at 9:38 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

[sorry, accidentally hit 'post' half-way through my list of episodes to avoid if you wanna keep your hate on for This American Life]
90: Telephone
About a kid who was "scared straight" when his dad forced him to listen to tapes of himself (that the dad had secretly made) talking on the phone when he was high. Also a profile of They Might Be Giants the greatness of which probably depends on whether you like them.
348: Tough Room
Evesdrop on the editoral room at The Onion. The last bit by Malcom Gladwell is pretty funny.
331: Habeas Schmabeas
Interviews with two former Guantanamo detainees about life in Guantanamo.

And if you *still* hate Ira Glass, you might find this spot-on parody (previously)
cathartic.
posted by straight at 9:46 AM on March 19, 2008 [11 favorites]

he was old enough to know who he was

That's what gets me. What must have been going on in his head? Was he pressured to say he was Bobby? Did he hate being a traveling companion?
I'll have to DL audio when I get home - does it address this?
posted by pointystick at 9:48 AM on March 19, 2008

Still though, out there somewhere is Bobby Dunbar, just waiting for the correct time to come forward and tell what really happened.

Only he'd be 100 years old. If he's still alive.
posted by grubi at 10:00 AM on March 19, 2008

I'm always torn with TAL, where I'm annoyed by the twee posturings and pretentious pacing, but the stories themselves are often really interesting. It's the number one show I wish transcripts were readily available for.

"How could the Dunbars not have known he wasn't their son?"

People were dumber then.
posted by klangklangston at 10:00 AM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

This episode creeped me out. Such a sad, weird story.
posted by Rarebit Fiend at 10:15 AM on March 19, 2008

"Animals don't forget, but this big, coarse country woman, several times a mother -- she forgot," one newspaper reported. "Children were only regrettable incidents in her life. ... She hopes her son isn't dead just as she hopes that the cotton crop will be good this year. Of true mother love, she has none."

Harsh. And really sad in light of the truth.
posted by Locative at 10:22 AM on March 19, 2008

Only he'd be 100 years old. If he's still alive.

Bobby Dunbar died in 1966.
posted by smoothvirus at 10:23 AM on March 19, 2008

hm. Maybe I should have said:

Bobby Dunbar died in 1912.
Bruce Anderson died in 1966.
posted by smoothvirus at 10:27 AM on March 19, 2008

That's what gets me. What must have been going on in his head? Was he pressured to say he was Bobby? Did he hate being a traveling companion?

At the time he was "found", he was five years old. A child's mind at that age accepts whatever an adult tells them as the truth. Just imagine.. you're five years old, you've been traveling on the road with this old guy for a while. Next thing you know, you're taken away and meet some people that tell you they're your mom and dad. You are lauded with attention by everyone. You're taken to a town that holds a parade in your honor. You get presents - a bicycle and a pony. If you were five years old, you'd accept you were Bobby Dunbar too.

As time goes by, memories of being a small child fade and like the film The Truman Show, you accept the reality with which you are presented.

There are some clues that later in life, Bobby Dunbar suspected he was really Bruce Anderson. At one point, he briefly visited the other children of Julia Anderson.
posted by smoothvirus at 10:45 AM on March 19, 2008

Metafilter: Twee posturings and pretentious pacing

Metafilter: The number one show I wish transcripts were readily available for

straight,
Thanks for the recommendations!
**furtively listens to TAL podcast ***
posted by lukemeister at 11:15 AM on March 19, 2008

CRAP! My one chance to finally learn THE TRUTH, and it's 'Server is currently unavailable or down for maintenance.'

The truth? The server CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH! I deride its truth-handling abilities!
posted by kirkaracha at 11:16 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Q. How could the Dunbars not have known he wasn't their son?
A. All little boys look the same.
posted by binturong at 11:18 AM on March 19, 2008

This woman, Julia Anderson, "gave" her son to an itinerant traveler as a companion when the son was only 5 years old. Nowhere is it even hinted that the traveler abused the boy in any way, but what would something like that do to a child? "Here, take him with you."

I would imagine that, if I were a child and confronted by a devastated family, who unwittingly lost their son and who were willing to do anything to have that boy back in their lives, who thought that I might be that boy and were prepared to raise me as their own, and my only other choice was to be returned to a mother who discarded me like dirty bathwater, I'd take the family without regretting it much.
posted by misha at 11:20 AM on March 19, 2008

I was much impressed by the poetic eloquence of an itinerant handyman of the period. While in his jail cell awaiting word whether he would be extradited, Walters wrote "... it seems that I must suffer now for an imaginary sin or crime that has never been committed.... Dying, I can look up through the ethereal blue of Heaven, thank God, and say my conscience is clear: the heart strings of weeping mothers bind not my withering limbs, and the crime of kidnapping stains not my humble threshold door."
Somehow I can't imagine, say, Dubya writing something like that when he sits in his jail cell.
posted by binturong at 11:23 AM on March 19, 2008 [7 favorites]

Forgive me if this wanders, but -- what is it about Glass/TAL that you haters hate so much? Is this just the Internet's "tall poppy syndrome", or is there more? I am not sure that I understand what is pretentious about pacing.

This isn't coming from a huge fan of the show, though I like what I've heard. I'm just really curious to hear a credible explanation.
posted by chinese_fashion at 11:25 AM on March 19, 2008

What does "given to him as a travelling companion" mean? It makes it sound like there was some practical value to having a four-year-old around on a long trip, which seems unlikely.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:26 AM on March 19, 2008

(Or, yeah, what misha said. If only there were a button of some sort that I could push to catch up on the thread.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:27 AM on March 19, 2008

Thanks, smoothvirus. Interesting that he had later suspicions. I don't know why I thought he was a little older when it clearly says his age.

and nebulawindphone and misha, I thought that too. Sounds a little creepy to me.
posted by pointystick at 11:45 AM on March 19, 2008

So wait, let me get this strait.

The boy got lost in the swamp, became Ira Glass and framed some itenerant peddler and his brother's yard child?
posted by Pollomacho at 11:53 AM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Y'know, 1912 wasn't the greatest time to be a servant woman or a servant woman's son (especially if you were a bastard), but I imagine it was, comparatively, a decent time to hang around with a travelling handyman. It's perfectly possible that Ms. Anderson gave Bruce to Walters because she thought he'd have a better life with him. By their standards, he was just old enough to not need a mother's care day in and day out.
posted by bettafish at 12:19 PM on March 19, 2008

Very, very Martin Guerre.

1912 wasn't the greatest time to be a servant woman or a servant woman's son (especially if you were a bastard)

Especially if you were the bastard of the 'master'.

She got her baby out of the way, with the hopes that she'd be able to find him again.
posted by jrochest at 12:32 PM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

what is it about Glass/TAL that you haters hate so much? Is this just the Internet's "tall poppy syndrome", or is there more?

My bet is there's not much more. But he does have a slightly odd voice. But I don't care; I think the show rocks.
posted by grubi at 12:44 PM on March 19, 2008

If you listen to the story, Julia didn't give away the boy, she let him stay with his uncle because she was in a precarious situation - poor, unwed and working all day. It benefited the uncle because people thought the kid was cute and were more willing to trust a traveling handyman with a child, especially when it came to sleeping in their barn or getting a free meal. It probably seemed a win-win for everyone involved, given the shitty circumstances.
posted by shoesietart at 12:53 PM on March 19, 2008

What does "given to him as a travelling companion" mean?

In the podcast it's explained that when William Walters stopped somewhere and needed lodging for the night, people were more accepting of him if he had a little boy for the lady of the house to dote over.

100 years ago they didn't have our current moral panic over pedophilia.
posted by smoothvirus at 1:00 PM on March 19, 2008

Eh, some people just find the show annoying. I know I do. I don't like the pacing; I don't like the voice; I don't particularly like the show's POV. Altogether it grates. Just like some people can't stand the sound of styrofoam pieces rubbing together.
posted by dame at 1:03 PM on March 19, 2008

My personal Ira Glass hateirritation:

1. His intros are overlong and often completely unnecessary.
2. His speech is nasal, monotone, rushed, and choppy.
3. He swallows his L's. What's up with that?

I love TAL, but I absolutely cannot stand the sound of Ira Glass. He may indeed have a face for radio, but he's got a voice for print.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:04 PM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

dame!!

*blows kiss*

Oh, and what she said. It's just part of my whole irritation with NPR; I always feel I'm being talked down to by well-meaning members of a Higher Order. Their voices are always slightly singsongy, the sentences are pronounced clearly and slowly in case you're perceptually disadvantaged... I listen anyway, but I mutter the occasional curse. Anybody know Steve Post? That's my idea of a talk-show guy.
posted by languagehat at 1:16 PM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

I live down the road from Opelousas, and it is and always has been a hotbed of horrors like this. For some reason, it seems to attract and grow every sort of psychopath and bad event. Every time I would open the paper and read some horrific story, I could be sure it happened in Opelousas.
posted by atchafalaya at 1:23 PM on March 19, 2008

People going adult male + child companion = evil make me really sad.

Even in the middle class side of my family, I have uncles and cousins from 2 and three generations ago that traveled with strangers to places far away, and spent many years being raised by another family. The farmer side of my family has too many of these stories to count.

A concrete example: My great-grandmother lived in a small city, and went to visit her sister in a village many days away. My grandmother and her siblings old enough to ride had their own horses, my great grandmother carried the smallest girl on a rebozo sling on her back. The rainy season arrived early, making it too dangerous to cross the river with a baby that could not yet swim.

When my great-aunt was old enough to ride and swim, one of her cousins rode with her back to the city were my great-grandmother lived. It was a long trip, they visited other branches of the family on the way, and picked up another cousin, a toddler that could use the medical services in my great-grandmother's city. It was effectively a temporary baby swap between two families.

I never heard anyone regret the decisions they made, and the whole affair brought the family closer together.
posted by Dr. Curare at 1:28 PM on March 19, 2008 [5 favorites]

I'm not looking forward to the shitty novel that some MFA is writing based on this even as we speak, but the story is fascinating.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 1:28 PM on March 19, 2008

Good news: Very little Ira Glass.

NB: I am not an Ira Glass hater, I was being ironic here. I was writing from the perspective of the person I was replying to.

However, the NIN usage really was dissonance-inducing for me.
posted by sparkletone at 1:35 PM on March 19, 2008

340: The Devil in Me
Sam Slaven is an Iraq War veteran who came home from the War plagued by feelings of hate and anger toward Muslims. TAL producer Lisa Pollak tells the story of the unusual action Sam took to change himself, and the Muslim students who helped him do it.

Oh man, this one hit me hard. Good call.

I hated Glass's voice when I first started listening, too, but it stopped bothering me when I got hooked on the stories. Not all of them are good (take "Mapping," I think it was called), but some strike that perfect balance of humor and sorrow. My personal favorite:

339: Break-up
Writer Starlee Kine on what makes the perfect break-up song and whether really sad music can actually make you feel better. Plus, an eight-year-old author of a book about divorce and other stories from the heart of heartbreak.

The second act, "But Why?", is a pitch-perfect representation of what was going on in my head when my parents divorced, and I'd imagine what happened for other kids, too.

Oh, this is a thread about the Dunbar story? Right. I just started listening to the podcast this morning; it's captivating. Attitudes towards children were so different at that time. Even that photo of Bobby Dunbar and his mother in the News-Star link shows him dressed up as a little adult. I often think about Maya Angelou's story in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings--she and her brother, aged 3 and 4, were sent on a train ride halfway across the country with nothing but a note stating who they were and where they were headed. It's difficult to comprehend now, but I suppose it wasn't uncommon then.
posted by CiaoMela at 1:36 PM on March 19, 2008

Damn, one paragraph got lost when I pasted my comment. They did not take my great-aunt-back, they left her with another family for 5 or 6 years.

My great-grandmother was like five feet high, rode a huge horse, kept a rifle across the saddle, and a gun in her rebozo.
posted by Dr. Curare at 1:37 PM on March 19, 2008

seanyboy writes "To be fair, they should have given the descendants of Julia Anderson the same DNA test." fixed that apostrophe for you

At present, the clearest DNA testing you can get is Y-chromosome testing for patrilineal lines, and mitochondrial testing for matrilineal lines. The only way to test Bobby Dunbar's mitochondria would have been to find a sample of his actual tissue, and it probably would have required exhuming his body to get even a lock of hair. It was most likely far less of a hassle to do a negative test on the patrilineal line, using samples from living relatives with known y-chromosome links.
posted by Araucaria at 1:51 PM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

The last bit by Malcom Gladwell is pretty funny.

It also -- to be clear -- made up.
posted by Bizurke at 2:11 PM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

If you're wondering why a wandering handyman needs a 5 year old boy you've clearly never been some place it's difficult to get into (or out of) and realized you have a wrench that is exactly not the wrench you need.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 5:18 PM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

TAL Act Three. When Worlds Collide, from 2000

John Perry Barlow, head of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, former rancher and Grateful Dead lyricist, on an experience that began at the boundary of two conventions.
I thought this was the most wonderful and amazing yet sad stories I had ever heard. I still cry when I think about it.
posted by HappyHippo at 5:20 PM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

I have a sister who worked as a nanny for a family in our neighborhood when she was about 12. The family had lost an infant. She spent more and more time there. When she turned 21, right before she got married, she had herself adopted by the family. Maybe she hated us, or maybe she was gradually brainwashed by her grieving (and certifiable) employer, but this story reminds me of that experience. My sister died of brain cancer last December, the day after Christmas, survived by two children and a husband. None of it makes clear sense to me, but I have an inkling of how parents can take another family's child and deceive themselves in the process.
posted by mecran01 at 7:11 PM on March 19, 2008 [2 favorites]

This American Life at 3:00 followed by an hour of news followed by two hours of Garrison while I poke at a fire on the banks of the Mississippi River. Paradise baby!
posted by wrapper at 7:12 PM on March 19, 2008 [1 favorite]

Oh, and what she said. It's just part of my whole irritation with NPR; I always feel I'm being talked down to by well-meaning members of a Higher Order. Their voices are always slightly singsongy, the sentences are pronounced clearly and slowly in case you're perceptually disadvantaged... I listen anyway, but I mutter the occasional curse. Anybody know Steve Post? That's my idea of a talk-show guy.
posted by languagehat at 4:16 PM on March 19

Languagehat! My goodness, never bite the hand that feeds you my friend. Besides I hear that Nina Totenbag never forgets a slight.
posted by Pollomacho at 4:22 AM on March 20, 2008

This reminds me eerily of Bradbury's short story "Hail and Farewell", about the child who never ages, and the families that adopt him with the wish to replace the emptiness in their own homes.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:31 PM on March 20, 2008