the wellingtonista

What has happened to the youth of today?

Submitted by noizyboy on Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006.

Brilliant. Some generous soul has started transcribing Ronald Smythe and H. Westfolds' "letters to the editor" to a blog.

Between them, Westfold and Smythe have cornered the market on curmudgeonly grumpiness, making their output, naturally, some of the best comedy writing to be found coming out of our fair city. Says Smythe...

What has happened to the youth of today. It is a rare occasion indeed when I am shown politeness and respect by the younger age groups. Good manners have flown out the window, along with dress sense and decency.

I presume today’s public schools are partly to blame, although parents are no doubt shirking their responsibilities also.

...and H. Westfold, channeling, it would seem, Grandpa Simpson...

Your March 15 item about that lovely 1963 Studebaker and its manufacturer evoked memories of my adolescence in the late 1940s. You see, it was Studebaker which pioneered the "New Look" analogous to that of women’s fashions just then. It was in late 1947 or early 1948 that just a few of the latest Studebaker model appeared on our Taranaki roads, one of those cars being owned by a farmer near my hometown, Inglewood. For a short while, their profile made heads turn – a car’s front and rear ends both looked like front ends as we’d known cars for many years!

...and so on.

Read more at the aptly named I am of the Opinion.

[Hat-tip to Alan for actually un-earthing this.]

llew's picture
# Submitted by llew on Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006.

And I put an onion in my belt, which was the fashion at the time...


noizyboy's picture
# Submitted by noizyboy on Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006.

ahaha. that's exactly what I was thinking of...


# Submitted by Tom on Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006.

I can't believe two of you beat me to it, consarn it!

llew's picture
# Submitted by llew on Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006.

Joking? - the onion gag specifically? Mind you... it was a good one.

"And now, the Crazy Old Man dancers...."


noizyboy's picture
# Submitted by noizyboy on Wednesday, 13 Dec 2006.

yeah, specifically. I think the clincher was the "it was the fashion at the time" bit.


Alan's picture
# Submitted by Alan on Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006.

The car is described with an almost fetishistic longing - I wonder what H. Westfold's opinion of the (a decade later) Edsel and its supposedly suggestive horsecollar grille would be?

And let's not even mention this talk of rear ends and front ends...

--
http://halfpie.net/


llew's picture
# Submitted by llew on Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006.

I'm surprised they haven't seen fit to transcribe Mr darryl Ward's missives to the press.


Joanna's picture
# Submitted by Joanna on Tuesday, 12 Dec 2006.

Now we just need Kerry Prenderghast to get her own blog...


noizyboy's picture
# Submitted by noizyboy on Wednesday, 13 Dec 2006.

"Prenderghast"

that's great.


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