I think most of us stared at our televisions in utter disbelief the other night when the president struggled through several pronunciations of acetaminophen; acid and metaphin, and aseeda well um let's see how we do.  Phonetic spelling anyone? Desperately needed....

Mine comes from college in the Bronx, until I learned if I wanted to make a living one mile south in Manhattan, drop the drawn out vowels.  The library isn't the lie-barre-ee.  White Castle ain't Wot Castil.  Fordham Road ain't Fawdum Rowed.  Shorten vowels and speak...

Here's the set up.  We live on the 20th and 21st floors.  It's the top of the building. We have skylights in our bedrooms (slightly unnerving) and you can call me pretentious if you like but our unit is one of four corner units called the penthouses. Think what you...