Looks like the Parks Department will have to put up signs against diving into the Lagoon
By adamg - Thu, 04/10/2008 - 3:47pm.
Boston Police report arresting a soggy Lawrence man after he reportedly dove headfirst into the Public Garden Lagoon last night to try to escape officers chasing him for a robbery at Chestnut and Spruce streets on Beacon Hill:
Officers quickly formed a perimeter and surrounded the suspect. Seeing no viable way to escape capture, the suspect, standing in waist deep water, exited the pond and surrendered to police.
- Add new comment |
- Send to a friend |
| 
| 
Not the Frog Pond
I know that the BPD report says so, but they're wrong - it was the pond in the Public Garden, the one with the wee little suspension bridge and the Swan Boats. The Frog Pond is the shallow wading pond in the Commons. (I wondered how on earth a grown man of normal height could possibly get waist deep in the Frog Pond, even if it were filled to the brim!)
By the way, I think that the same BPD blog report has the answer to the mystery in this story:
http://www.universalhub.com/node/13914
although they seem to have confused AM with PM, as I've seen them do other times.
What is this world coming to?
When even the police can't get local geography right?
Yeah, I wondered about that myself - I was having trouble picturing somebody diving headfirst into Frog Pond, but who am I to judge what a crazed thief who doesn't know this town would do - or BPDNews?
But, yeah, I've changed the post to reflect the Globe's version, which just makes more sense - and because even BPDNews says it was in the Public Garden.
Common
@Allstonian: I don't mean to be snarky, but this is a pet peeve of mine.
There's only one Common. It was established in 1634 as a grazing pasture and for public hangings.
Sorry this just grates on me. Just like when people say they're going to COPE-lee Square.
And now for my non-sequitur: I miss The Allstonians, a great band from the mid-90s. They're disbandment seemed to coincide with the rapid decline of certain parts of the live music scene in Boston. Not all, but some.
I was about to get on my soapbox about the decline contributing to the closing of the Rat, but I that's too far off topic.
You're not the only one
Calling the Common the "Commons" is a dead giveaway of someone who isn't actually from here... Commons sounds like the name of a dining hall on some college campus or the name of a strip mall in the suburbs that was marketed by some firm from the Midwest that thinks it sounds "New Englandy".
not the Public Gardens, either
There's just one. Putting the 's' at the end is like saying you're going to take a trip to Glou-chess-ter.
Don't you mean ...
Glock-ester?
Glad to be out of the South
While I grew up in New England, I spent a few years in Memphis following high school. While there, I grew to hate their habit of randomly making nouns plural or possessive. All the while transforming obviously plural nouns into singular form.
I encountered this from people of every background and education level. It drove me absolutely nuts. There was no escaping it.
Coming back up north, I really felt like I was back home again. In the land of singular nouns and definite articles.
"Crossing Jordan"
...I don't even know if it's still on, but that show was AWFUL as far as doing their Boston homework. I remember them talking once about a crime at the "Art Museum...you know; that big building downtown", and once, part of their investigation led them to take "the 2" up to "Concord[e]".
It still was an interesting show, and Jill Hennessy was never unpleasant to look at, but geez, how hard is it to make a token effort to get things right?
Sorry
Sorry to grate on your nerves, and I'm right there with you on COPE-lee Square, but I've been calling it the Commons interchangeably with the Common for over 40 years, and I'm unlikely to stop completely. In my little sub-set of Bostonian-ness, it's not a dealbreaker. I will try to be more conscious of the distinction, though!
As long as we're slinging shibboleths, how do you pronounce Tremont and Faneuil?
Never actually saw the Allstonians, since my heyday of going out to see local bands was mid-80s to early 90s (plus I wasn't much into their genre.) My family's been in Allston since 1957 so I laid claim to the name.
"TREE-mont", "FAN-yull"
...
shibboleths
Tremont - TREH-mont, first syllable like "tread" or "treasure". TREE-mont is in the Bronx.
Faneuil - FAN'l or sometimes FAN-y*l, with * meaning "unstressed schwa"
Uh oh
Have I been screwing up Tremont all these years?
(hangs head in Central-Mass-raised shame)
Fanueil and Waltham
"FAN-yoo-il"
And I'm a native Bostonian. I say "CON-kerd."
I also say "WALL-tham," unlike the Black Duck Software CEO who says "Wal-thum" on the pro-business radio spots with Deval Patrick that I keep hearing during Sox games.
I came, I saw
I Concord.
Waltham
Yes! I keep trying to gently guide my not-from-here husband on that one. Also "Southie", which for some reason he insists on pronouncing with the th from "this" instead of the one from "thin."
Southie is not very far from
Quinzy.
And just across the hahbah from...
Reveeeyah.
@Allstonian: To answer your question, Fan-yull and Trahmont.
My best man still calls it Treeemont, and he grew up in Newton and now works for the Town of Brookline. I think he does it just to aggravate me.
I will say this: Jordan Marsh was always "Jahdanz", and Filene's had long been "Fye-leeenz", but just before their congomlerization into Macy's, I started calling it "Fleenz."