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Hmm. Now why would Gene be going to Kansas City ? Select all that apply.

1. Try to talk some sense into Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift

2. Participate in the Josh Hawley Manly Sprint competition

3. Make a guest appearance as the "Mouse King" in the Kansas City Ballet's annual production of "The Nutcracker"

4. Appear in a performance of the Kansas City Repertory Theater's "A Christmas Carol" as "Tiny Tim"

5. Interview candidates for next year's Evelyn Gates Award for a female high school varsity volleyball player who exhibits skill, spirit and sportsmanship

6. Perform "The Messiah" arranged for harmonica with members of the Kansas City Symphony Chorus

7. Audition for the US version of the survival reality show, "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!"

8. Light the ceremonial first candle on several large, token menorahs around town to kick off Hanukkah

9. Prepare his "Critter Cassoulet" signature dish as celebrity chef at the MoKan Holiday Roadkill Cook-Off

10. Judge the final of the "Claire McCaskill You Can Kiss My Pink Ass You Fascist Mofus" poetry contest

11. No other city would have him

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They got some crazy little women there?

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And is Gene gonna get himself one?

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Or all of the above?

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Darn, I was hoping to hear what Pat & Gene had to say about today's WaPo strike.

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So Gene, you're going to Kansas City. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller claim that they got some crazy little women there. Are you gonna get yourself one?

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You like "tomato," I like "tomahto." I like "potato" and Dan Quayle likes "potatoe."

So it is with ho-mazh and o-mazh, and while we're at it, is basil a "herb" (British English), an "erb" (American English) or the proprietor of a hotel on the English Riviera ? But I regress. According to people who are paid to keep track of these things (or have too much time on their hands), the h-less o-mazh pronunciation is gaining ascendancy, along with the actual French word. This may be the result of a present emphasis on originalism in some quarters oozing into others...or just plain affectation. It seems when many words were originally appropriated by Middle English from Norman French, the first "h" was not pronounced. However, as so-called spelling pronunciation began to take hold long about the 17th c. the initial "h" as in "habit," "hospital" and "human" --- and a bit later, "homage" --- became audible although, as is often the case, there were exceptions like "heir," "honest" and "hour." And the Brits --- just to make certain the US and the UK remained two countries separated by a common language --- put the aspirated "h" back in "herb."

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Re: pronounciation of "homage". My understanding is that in the film world vernacular, the noun is written as (an) "hommage", sometimes italicized to indicate that the intent is to use the French word.

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