Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Further proof that Chapel Hill is a strange place…

On my pedestrian commute to class today as I walked down Franklin Street I saw a lady dressed in shorts with a button up shirt tucked in and wearing a tie. She was standing next to her bike which had panniers and thus drew my attention. She noticed me and the ensuing conversation commenced:

Strange Woman: Can you spell Coca-Cola?

Me: Yeah

Strange Woman: Spell it.

Me: c-o-c-a hyphen c-o-l-a

Strange Woman: Ok, now you can work for them.

Then she walked off.

5 comments:

Melissa said...

I would assume she has a problem with them calling it "coke"? That's an amazing story...and you got to use the word pannier...how often in their lifetime does a person get to use the word pannier? (I think I just filled my quota) Speaking of coke...I should go drink the one I got out of the machine earlier.

Brian said...

That's an interesting hypothesis, but why would you think that? Yes it was a strange occurance. If I ever see the lady again I'm going to ask her the same question.

Anonymous said...

What the hey's a Pannier? Like a Banana seat? Or those tassle things on the handlebars? I need some context clues here...-susanna

Melissa said...

I'm assuming that the panniers you're talking about are the things that are almost like saddlebags across the back wheel? That's what I pictured. The word comes from women's clothing though, you know how elizabethan dresses stick straight out sideways? those were called panniers, and I think they eventually evolved into pockets, but I'm not sure.

Brian said...

You're correct.