# Pardon me boy... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 10, 2008, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808 "2008-05-10T14:27:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/21 "2008-05-11T04:06:46Z")
[QUOTE=Happy Wanderer] Track twenty freaking nine!?! I know some of our great train stations had a lot of passenger platforms, but TWENTY NINE? [/QUOTE] I remember the original Penn Station very well, and it definitely had way more than 29 tracks. It was an amazing place, and its demolition was unforgivable. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/22 "2008-05-11T08:41:13Z")
> [@](#): > > **Happy Wanderer** : Hey, let’s sacrifice our national heritage so drunken New Yawkers have a place to watch sweaty men pummel one and other, and throw balls around! Careful. You will talk folks out of heading back home to Tennessee. I know I hesitated. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/23 "2008-05-11T13:16:23Z")
[QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] … When he got there, Dale Evans, who knew what he intended to do that day, said ‘Pardon me, Roy. Is that the cat that chewed the new shoes?’ [/QUOTE] One of Dr Freud’s first patients was very uncomfortable, until he suggested that she just lie down on the couch and say whatever came into her head. She started to talk, at first haltingly, then growing more comfortable, speaking compulsively, and she suddenly became terribly self-conscious and asked, “Pardon me, Freud, but is my chatter really cuckoo?” On the set of the “Thin Man” movie, a prop man noticed Myrna Loy carrying a swatch of material, and asked, “Pardon me, Loy, is that the shantung that’s the new clue?” At the zoo, an unkempt gnu was sitting morosely in a corner of the cage. Outside the cage was a bamboo shoot with teeth marks; a visitor saw that, and thought the gnu might have thrown it out of the cage, and asked the attendant, “Pardon me, boy, is that the shoddy gnu’s bamboo shoot?” [sub]From NYTimes Magazine, January 19, 1975[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/24 "2008-05-11T13:37:18Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I remember the original Penn Station very well, and it definitely had way more than 29 tracks. It was an amazing place, and its demolition was unforgivable. [/QUOTE] Nope. [Penn Station Track Plan - 1912](http://bp1.blogger.com/_dQuacLNyX8E/SCb2IGsVOoI/AAAAAAAABUU/Ic-KaWCPH00/s1600-h/Penn+Tracks.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/25 "2008-05-11T15:04:52Z")
Pshaw. Every East German knows that it’s not the Chattanooga Choo Choo, but rather the [_Sonderzug nach Pankow_](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-NSfmhiTBg). 😃 ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/26 "2008-05-11T15:19:57Z")
'Way back before we met, fella bilong missus flodnak took a seven-week backpacking trip around South America. The highlight of the trip for him was Machu Picchu. While many people like to hike up along the Inca Trail, my fella and his travelling companions decided to take the train. Yup. Really. They took the Machu Picchu Choo-Choo. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/27 "2008-05-11T15:32:13Z")
… is this the lair of Great Cthulhlu? In the city of slime, Where it is night all the time… ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/28 "2008-05-11T16:43:36Z")
I just sorted by song on my Ipod. I have Chattanooga Choo Choo three times. Twice by Glen Miller (different recordings) and once by Asleep at the Wheel. Round Midnight comes in first with four copies: Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Stan Getz, and Stanley Jordon. Oops. Stardust ties for first with four copies: Louis Armstrong, Dave Alexander, Stan Kenton, and Willie Nelson. How mundane and off-topic is that? ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/29 "2008-05-11T18:13:54Z")
[QUOTE=postcards] Nope. Penn Station only ever had 21 tracks. Still does. [/QUOTE] But “Track 21 / Boy you can show me some fun” didn’t play in Peoria. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/30 "2008-05-11T18:29:44Z")
[QUOTE=Tully Mars] Stardust …Willie Nelson. [/QUOTE] Say what? Regina Carter has a cover of Chattanooga Choo Choo without lyrics. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/31 "2008-05-11T20:37:57Z")
Lamont Cranston discovered that someone had stolen his favorite piece of candy. He sent out his assistants to find. Moe Shrevnitz, his driver, spotted a blond teenages with something that looked like the purloined sweets, and eating one of them. He pulled up his taxi and said, “Pardon me, goy. Is that the Shadow’s nougat you chew?” ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2008, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/32 "2008-05-11T20:53:17Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] “Pardon me, goy. Is that the Shadow’s nougat you chew?” [/QUOTE] No good can come from this punnery. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/33 "2008-05-12T01:17:29Z")
I love them. Keep them coming… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/34 "2008-05-12T01:26:43Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] I love them. Keep them coming… 🙂 [/QUOTE] It’s flummery! Danged flummery! Besides, Lamont Cranston may not really be the Shadow’s secret identity, but a red herring. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/35 "2008-05-12T02:00:54Z")
[QUOTE=carnivorousplant] Say what? Regina Carter has a cover of Chattanooga Choo Choo without lyrics. [/QUOTE] [Willie’s “Stardust” among other classics.](http://www.amazon.com/Stardust-Willie-Nelson/dp/B0000296J3/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1210557565&sr=8-1) ---
**Author:** ![greatshakes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/58956e/32.png) [@greatshakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/greatshakes)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/36 "2008-05-12T14:54:47Z")
[QUOTE=MadTheSwine] Boy, I never even thought this was a racist song..thanks for enlightening me. I will never listen to this song again. [/QUOTE] Are you crazy??? Just think of how much revenue iTunes will lose if EVERYBODY stopped listening to it!!! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/37 "2008-05-12T15:48:23Z")
They could have just said “track number nine” and retained the meter of the song. Or, if it’s a really small station the lyrics could have read, “track number two, I’ll shine up your shoes.” ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/38 "2008-05-12T16:05:34Z")
[QUOTE=dwc1970] They could have just said “track number nine” and retained the meter of the song. Or, if it’s a really small station the lyrics could have read, “track number two, I’ll shine up your shoes.” [/QUOTE] Track number nine would work. However, it’s clearly the Pennsylvania Station in Manhattan, so it’s far from being a “really small station”. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 12, 2008, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/39 "2008-05-12T18:02:18Z")
[QUOTE=RealityChuck] “Pardon me, goy. Is that the Shadow’s nougat you chew?” [/QUOTE] That reminds me, when a Star Trek star decided to go hardcore Orthodox, the only place he could find to suit the strict cooking requirements was an apartment in London, but it had no carpeting, fixtures, or ceiling texturing. People who wondered if that was also a religious requirement asked “Pardon, Nimoy, but is a flat that nude what Jews choose?” ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808/40 "2008-05-13T00:12:23Z")
[QUOTE=Ludovic] That reminds me, when a Star Trek star decided to go hardcore Orthodox, the only place he could find to suit the strict cooking requirements was an apartment in London, but it had no carpeting, fixtures, or ceiling texturing. People who wondered if that was also a religious requirement asked “Pardon, Nimoy, but is a flat that nude what Jews choose?” [/QUOTE] I think we just entered an alternate dimension with that one… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pardon-me-boy/448808.md?page=1)