Comments on: Pets, motion, and other tips from a travel memoir http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/pets-motion-tips-travel-memoir/ Hundreds of Essays and Interviews to Help You Read and Write Memoirs Wed, 16 May 2012 03:25:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: jerrywaxler http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/pets-motion-tips-travel-memoir/comment-page-1/#comment-1968 jerrywaxler Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:20:44 +0000 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=206#comment-1968 Thanks for the comment, Sid. It's coming back to me now. (I read it a LONG time ago.) I think he mentioned in the passage that this long name had its roots in military history. That was part of the joke. It gave the dog a sort of quirky, ironic majesty. Whatever it was, it must have worked. We both remember it, the sure sign of a successful literary device. Jerry Thanks for the comment, Sid. It’s coming back to me now. (I read it a LONG time ago.) I think he mentioned in the passage that this long name had its roots in military history. That was part of the joke. It gave the dog a sort of quirky, ironic majesty. Whatever it was, it must have worked. We both remember it, the sure sign of a successful literary device.

Jerry

]]> By: Sid Leavitt http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/pets-motion-tips-travel-memoir/comment-page-1/#comment-1967 Sid Leavitt Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:10:58 +0000 http://memorywritersnetwork.com/blog/?p=206#comment-1967 You don't mention it, but you may know that Charley's full name was the first four letters of the phonetic alphabet used by the U.S. military during World War II. It was a near-perfect joke by Steinbeck because 'c' was 'charlie' (close enough to 'Charley') and 'd' was 'dog.' In the new phonetic alphabet, introduced in the 1950s, 'c' is still 'charlie,' but alas, 'd' is now 'delta.' ('A' and 'b,' by the way, also have changed into 'alpha' and 'bravo.') I loved <i>Travels with Charley</i> and just about everything else Steinbeck wrote. You don’t mention it, but you may know that Charley’s full name was the first four letters of the phonetic alphabet used by the U.S. military during World War II. It was a near-perfect joke by Steinbeck because ‘c’ was ‘charlie’ (close enough to ‘Charley’) and ‘d’ was ‘dog.’ In the new phonetic alphabet, introduced in the 1950s, ‘c’ is still ‘charlie,’ but alas, ‘d’ is now ‘delta.’ (‘A’ and ‘b,’ by the way, also have changed into ‘alpha’ and ‘bravo.’)

I loved Travels with Charley and just about everything else Steinbeck wrote.

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