Thursday, September 26, 1985
Pago 4
Daily Nebraskan
Editorial
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opposite roles in
mist relations'
mhe general manager of the Nebraska ETV Network
traveled to the Soviet Union Wednesday to helD pro
mote good communication between the United States
and the Soviet Union.
Jack McBride, NETV general manager, is part of a
13-member U.S. delegation of public television representatives
meeting for the first time with Soviet broadcasting officials.
Besides a possible exchange of programs, the meetings
could result in the co-production of some shows that interest
both countries, McBride said.
Elsewhere in Nebraska, Tecumseh officials announced that
their town had won a role in an ABC-TV mini-series about life in
the United States after a Soviet takeover.
ABC officials won't comment on the storyline of the "Amer
ika" mini-series. But a story by the Associated Press earlier
this month reported that the program would depict life in a
small Nebraska town, as well as the rest of the United States,
after a takeover by the Soviet Union.
While one Nebraskan is trying to build relations with the
Soviets, ABC officials will be using other Nebraskans to stir
suspicions about Soviets.
arching for peace
A 3,200-mile trek to promote nuclear disarmament deserves
the support of UNL students and faculty.
Lori Graff, regional recruiter for People Reaching Out For
Peace, was at UNL Wednesday seeking people with a commit
ment to world peace, good health and a desire to march.
By joining the 225-day quest, students could dispel the
apathetic image they acquired in the '80s.
Faculty members can support the march and the students
marching. At many U.S. universities professors have offered to
give academic credit to marchers who do a project or paper
based on their experience.
Although most students and faculty probably lack the time
and stamina to participate in the nine-month march, they still
can support the event financially.
Graff estimates that each marcher will need about $3,000 for
the trek. To help marchers pay for the trip, students couid
organize fund-raisers and collect pledges for each mile
marchers will walk.
The march can put the issue of nuclear peace in the minds of
the public where it belongs.
About 75 percent of Americans think a nuclear war will take
place in their lifetime, Graff said, and most think they can do
nothing about it.
The peace march gives students, faculty and others a chance
to show their support for nuclear disarmament.
M
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1985 DAILY NEBRASKAN
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Progress made on farm bill
Congress has finally made progress
toward passing a farm bill, as
proposals spearheaded by Iowa
Rep. Berkley Bedell and Iowa Sen. Tom
Harkirf received committee approval
earlier this week.
The details of each bill are likely to
change, but their general concepts
appear to be a wise shift away from past
practices of credit expansion and
unconditional subsidization.
The bills are aimed not at a drastic
rise in farm income, but at maintaining
current income by raising domestic
grain prices while cutting production
and, most importantly, production costs.
The key to Bedell's plan is a two
tiered system of grain prices that
would guarantee a higher price for
grain used in the United States, while
allowing export grain prices to remain
low. Both bills call for a farmer referen
dum for voluntary participation.
While it may not be the income
booster that would bail out all farmers
deep in debt, the proposed plans take
great strides in the areas of production
control, soil and water conservation
and the reduction of the economies of
scale that are driving prospective young
farmers out of the industry.
The last of these points may be the
most critical to the future of the family
farm, and best exemplifies the manner
in which these proposed measures
differ from those used in the past. For
many years, the government has tried
to place young farmers into large-scale
farming with the availability of large,
low-interest loans. This certainly is not
working, and a new system is needed to
reduce fixed costs while making survi
val on a small scale possible. The pro
posed bills have the look of just such a
plan, and certainly warrant consideration.
recovery.
Joe
Schuele
Whether either bill would have a
chance for executive approval is diffi
cult to say. Certainly they do not
resemble the "free market approach"
that President Reagan has requested,
but an extension of the current farm
bill is hardly an attractive alternative.
Comments from Ag Secretary John.
Block and Senate Majority Leader Robert
Dole of Kansas predict doom for any
such bill reaching the president's desk.
But this is typical of both; especially
Dole, who has long needed a reminder
of the demographics of his constitu
ents. Harkins himself has not helped
matters much either, as he insists on
making a partisan battle of issues far
too important for such treatment.
Hopefully, progress can continue on
adoption of a bill without political
imagery and stubbornness blocking
the way. It would be a shame to reject
what seems to be a long-awaited step in
the right direction toward agricultural
I found it amusing that after starring
recently in the Omaha Community
Playhouse's production of "Barnum,"
Lincoln Sen. David Landis got to par
ticipate in another show closely emu
lating a circus the special session of
the Nebraska Legislature. The session,
called by Gov. Bob Kerrey, had one pur
pose: To correct the improper wording
of the bill appropriating a payoff to
Commonwealth depositors. Kerrey and
Lincoln Sen. Chris Buetler said before
hand that the session would be kept
simple in scope and would be, they
hoped, uneventful. Fat chance.
Whether it was the Legislature
meeting at the witching hour in Big
Red garb or the introduction of no less
than five new bills, it was clear that
there would not be a dull moment in
this special session.
All the new bills were rejected, and
business was taken care of with the
addition of just one amendment to the
bill in question. And, according to
Buetler, the amendment doesn't change
anything anyway. The business was
simple after all. So why was there such
a carnival of events leading to the pass
ing of a bill that we thought passed?
One explanation is that senators can
smell headlines, especially near re
election time.
Schuele is a UNL senior advertising
student.
Namath speaks trendy 'Yuppabilly'
While we were watching the last
Bears game, Little George
leaned away from the bar and
said: "Hey, where's Joe Namath from?"
The bartender said: "He's from Pen
nsylvania. Town called Beaver Falls."
"That's what I thought. Then why
does Namath talk that way?"
"What way?"
"He talks like a Southerner. Or a
black guy. Listen."
So we listened to.Namath's com
mentary. And he was right. It was a
"lawn pass," for long pass. It was "laif '
for left, "plez" for plays, "plehr" for
player, "bah" for by, "tron" for trying,
"lahn-min" for linemen, and "suh
prahzed" for surprised.
"That's very strange," said little
George. "I've been in that part of Pen
nsylvania and people don't talk that
way. They talk like we do, like Mid
westerners." "Well," the bartender said, "he played
college ball in Alabama. Maybe he
picked it up there."
"That was 20 years ago. And he spent
a lot more time than that in New York
but he doesn't talk like a New Yorker."
"Then why does he talk like a
Southerner?"
-1 interrupted to explain this pheno
menon. What they were hearing is a dialect
that has crept into American speech. I
call it Yuppabilly, because it is often
spoken by white Northern Yuppies
who, for whatever reason, want to
sound like Southerners or blacks.
I first noticed the Yuppabilly dialect
when I heard a former Yuppie co
worker of mine speaking it. If you
didn't know him, you would have thought
he was from Arkansas or some such
rustic place.
'
i Is., I
I i- f It I
Mike
Royko
In fact, he was from a wealths
England suburb and had attended Ivy
League schools.
But he developed his Yuppabilly dia
lect because he was single and dis
covered that he could impress more
females m singles bars if he spoke with
a drawl. It provided him with a more
rakish, macho, good old boy personality
than did his Yale background.
Actually, Yuppabilly has some of its
roots in the folk music revival of the
late 1950s and early 1960s, when white
suburban youths began plunking gui
k fn,?ALbaoes and singing songs
about Ah bin swingin' a six-poun'
ftammer frum mah hips on down " Bob
Dylan, the son of a Jewish hardware
store owner in Minnesota, became a
star when he learned to sing and talk
like a 1930s dust bowl Okie.
That spilled over into rock music.
One reason nobody can understand
rock lyrics, besides the deafening
decibels, is that everybody is singing in
some sort of Southern or black drawl.
You even hear English rockers howling,
"C'mawnn all you peepuhhlll, let's git
togayder."
The urban cowboy fad helped the
spread of Yuppabilly, with MBAs wear
ing $150 boots going into big-city bars
and saying: "Mah pu-laise or yores."
The CB craze contributed, too.
Everybody who talked into a CB tried to
sound like a corn-pone trucker.
To confirm my theory on Namath, I
called a few people in his hometown
and asked about how they talked and
how he used to talk.
(I interrupt to point out that his
name isn't really Joe Willie. It is Joseph
William. Few parents of Hungarian
ancestry give their kids name3 like Joe
Willie. Or Bubba. Or Billy Bob.)
An editor at the Beaver Falls news
paper said: "No, we don't talk that way.
We sound like other Midwesterners.
And a writer who knew Namath when
he was a kid said: "He used to talk like
Please see
ROYKO on 5
