Yesterday, at our Friday burger and a beer lunch, British Will tells me that he and his girlfriend are taking a trip to New York City this winter. (On a previous occasion when we had been talking about New York, I had laughed in his face when he didn’t realize there was a whole New York State attached to New York City. I couldn’t help it—he thought New York was just Manhattan. Now that I think about it though, a lot of New Yorkers probably believe this too—but more like The World is just Manhattan. Still, I think I accidentally hurt his feelings by outright laughing at him, so I was extra careful this time to be sensitive to his knowledge of American geography.)
“Oh sweet! What have you planned?” I ask.
“Well, not too much yet, but we are actually going to stay with a mate of mine in New Jersey.”
COMMENCE FREAKOUT. BRITISH WILL IS GOING TO NEW JERSEY.
“OH MY GOSH, YOU’RE GOING TO MY STATE!! WHERE ARE YOU STAYING??”
For some reason, British Will’s enthusiasm does not quite match mine. “Uhh, in some town close to the city—funny name, really, I think it starts with an H…umm, Hoolaboola, or something.”
Hmm, Hoolaboola…
“…Hoboken?”
“Yeah, yeah, that’s the one.”
Not wanting to have a repeat of our last New York conversation, I managed to limit my urge to laugh to just a small chuckle to myself. Hoboken, Hoolaboola...I'm sure plenty of people make this mistake.
And I guess I wouldn’t be too excited about staying in Hoboken either, but if it were called Hoolaboola…??!! I could definitely get excited about that. (For out-of-staters, Hoboken is pronounced HO-bo-kin—accent on the “HO” because that’s how we do things in New Jersey. Or just think of it as a word for a hobo’s family and you should get it about right. It is also the home of Cake Boss.) (Hoolaboola, on the other hand, is pronounced exactly how it looks. It could very well be the home of Cake Boss.) I think I will now always refer to Hoboken as Hoolaboola. I'm sure it will catch on (how could it not?).
