I think this writer is deliberately aping the structure of the original, but is not the same person, for one BIG reason: the first person know how to spell Neisner's.
Downtown Crossing was raised as a red flag on the original, though it was suggested that someone might use the modern name to refer to that area. Yet this person claims to have moved away to the west coast. If they haven't been a local since that time, they're even more unlikely to think of the area as Downtown Crossing.
And it's more about the deployment process and basic geography than DTX, though I agree with the above posters that the response really reeks of drippy romance fiction.
as simply 'downtown', or 'Washington Street', when referring the shopping. The area down by Boylston and Chinatown would have been referred to as the 'combat zone'.
If you went there in 1972 and have continued to go there ever since, like a lot of people, you would probably refer to it as DTX--it's not necessarily anachronistic. If he said "We then darted into the Corner Mall and stopped at Starbucks on our way back for a latte."
We sat at the counter of that five and dime and conversed like nervous adolescences . We laughed uneasily as we lamented, and I confessed over pecan pie that I was engaged to a man I now did not love, a banker from a line of Boston nobility, a Cabot. His parents were hosting a soirée to ring in the New Year, hence the dress.
So she finds out the guy is married but she's going to a party that his parents are hosting. A Cabot says "marry me" and she's never met the parents? Or somehow Mr. and Mrs. Cabot don't know that their son is already married. Or they are having a party and Junior's wife isn't invited?
I guess various explanations (like she's Catholic so it won't work even if he divorces- but granted I don't see a Cabot even in 1972 marrying a Catholic - much less the scandale of a Cabot getting divorced etc., etc.), but they'd have to be pretty fanciful explanations. I call balderdash lovey.
but I know of a Lowell who married a Catholic (a very little, very dark, very beautiful Italian girl) about ten years later. I can't swear to it, but I have heard it was even a Catholic ceremony. And I know a Cabot (albeit female) who married someone a lot more outre than a Catholic around the same time and is still in good graces with the family.
I don't know how they managed to hold the first seven First Night events (which started on 12/31/1976) without this service.
Neither of the Missed Connections stories said anything specific about the time of day when these events occurred, so late-night bus service was not necessary for them to be true.
"I don't know how they managed to hold the first seven First Night events (which started on 12/31/1976) without this service."
Because most of the First Night events ended before midnight and people went home or onto other plans elsewhere. It was designed as such. The multitudes (mostly suburbanites and tourists) standing around in Copley Square for no reason until midnight is a relatively recent turn of events in the history of First Night.
The 111 to Chelsea, the 11 to City Point (and maybe also the 7 if it ran on Sundays back then), or the various 4xx buses to Lynn, Salem, Saugus, and Marblehead.
The two stories may have been fake but they were a great exercise in detective work for those who remember the "old Boston" of the 60s and 70s. I hadn't thought of Neisner's in ages. I had fun!
Comments
Man
The writer of the original is MUCH better at their craft.
Or is he?
I was just thinking the same person wrote both.
I'd wager $$
That it's the same author. Similar paragraph lengths, sentence structure and diction. The sequel definitely isn't as charming as the original.
Same author? I don't think so.
I think this writer is deliberately aping the structure of the original, but is not the same person, for one BIG reason: the first person know how to spell Neisner's.
yes
And things like "adolescences" [sic]
Mad Lib
This one reads like a Mad Lib version of the original peppered with some over-wrought phrases for bad measure.
Does anyone know of any
Does anyone know of any website that can process two different pieces of text and analyze them to see if they were written by the same person?
So
There are ways to do this. Not with this sort of sample size, though.
Like most additional works by
Like most additional works by a different author, this one really ruins the magic of the first.
The Downtown Crossing argument, redux
Downtown Crossing was raised as a red flag on the original, though it was suggested that someone might use the modern name to refer to that area. Yet this person claims to have moved away to the west coast. If they haven't been a local since that time, they're even more unlikely to think of the area as Downtown Crossing.
I think this has been the most solid debunking.
http://www.thomaswictor.com/we-never-met-in-the-rain-on-the-last-day-of-...
And it's more about the deployment process and basic geography than DTX, though I agree with the above posters that the response really reeks of drippy romance fiction.
WOW
Somebody did their homework. That is a serious debunking.
People would have refered to downtown crossing in that era
as simply 'downtown', or 'Washington Street', when referring the shopping. The area down by Boylston and Chinatown would have been referred to as the 'combat zone'.
Yesssss but...
If you went there in 1972 and have continued to go there ever since, like a lot of people, you would probably refer to it as DTX--it's not necessarily anachronistic. If he said "We then darted into the Corner Mall and stopped at Starbucks on our way back for a latte."
Balderdash
So she finds out the guy is married but she's going to a party that his parents are hosting. A Cabot says "marry me" and she's never met the parents? Or somehow Mr. and Mrs. Cabot don't know that their son is already married. Or they are having a party and Junior's wife isn't invited?
I guess various explanations (like she's Catholic so it won't work even if he divorces- but granted I don't see a Cabot even in 1972 marrying a Catholic - much less the scandale of a Cabot getting divorced etc., etc.), but they'd have to be pretty fanciful explanations. I call balderdash lovey.
Not that I dispute anything else you said
but I know of a Lowell who married a Catholic (a very little, very dark, very beautiful Italian girl) about ten years later. I can't swear to it, but I have heard it was even a Catholic ceremony. And I know a Cabot (albeit female) who married someone a lot more outre than a Catholic around the same time and is still in good graces with the family.
--gpm
When was that marriage
I could see that by the time 1982 rolled around - but prior to that I think it would have been frowned upon in those circles.
Bus stop
Not the song, but the mention. Did they have Night Owl buses back then, or extended service on New Year's Eve?
Late-night New Years's Eve MBTA service
started on December 31, 1983, according to this news story.
I don't know how they managed to hold the first seven First Night events (which started on 12/31/1976) without this service.
Neither of the Missed Connections stories said anything specific about the time of day when these events occurred, so late-night bus service was not necessary for them to be true.
"I don't know how they
"I don't know how they managed to hold the first seven First Night events (which started on 12/31/1976) without this service."
Because most of the First Night events ended before midnight and people went home or onto other plans elsewhere. It was designed as such. The multitudes (mostly suburbanites and tourists) standing around in Copley Square for no reason until midnight is a relatively recent turn of events in the history of First Night.
First Night midnight harbor fireworks
I thought fireworks over the harbor at midnight were part of the event ever since it started. Maybe not?
A bus, in DTX?
What bus? The 500s out to Newton have stopped running. The Silver Line wasn't a thing in 1973. The 55? The 43? The 55? Or a 92 to Charlestown?
It seems that if it was raining in Downtown Crossing and you were going somewhere, you'd get on a train.
Downtown buses
The 111 to Chelsea, the 11 to City Point (and maybe also the 7 if it ran on Sundays back then), or the various 4xx buses to Lynn, Salem, Saugus, and Marblehead.
Bus Stop... Holly... Graham?
Ha, I get it!
Fun exercise
The two stories may have been fake but they were a great exercise in detective work for those who remember the "old Boston" of the 60s and 70s. I hadn't thought of Neisner's in ages. I had fun!
No great loss, apparently
https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/07/24/cabot-stepson-faces-crim...