I'm Especially Good At Expectorating

One of the best things for me about writing this blog and this site* has been the feedback and response from readers and fans of Howard’s work.  The impetus for Howardashman.com was my fear that Howard’s singular talents might be forgotten or marginalized – not on purpose, of course, but because he wasn’t here to make you remember.  I was clearly wrong.  But what knocks me out is not the general, “I really loved that show-movie,” stuff.  What knocks me out are the specifics. For instance, I got a note from Rob Shapiro – someone I don’t know – who wrote to tell me that when he took his SATs (and since he has a daughter, and has been a fan since Little Shop premiered, I’m assuming that was a while back) he proudly knew the words ‘tawdry,’ and ‘prattle,’ because of Howard.

Actually, I can’t remember where prattle comes from – sounds like Mermaid to me.  Anyone have the answer?

Tawdry, of course, comes from poor Audrey, wearing low and tawdry apparel.

I have always amused myself with the idea of innocent little ones figuring out the word, “expectorating,” after listening to Gaston in Beauty and the Beast. Of course, the animators made sure to give a nice visual aid to that one, as well.

So keep those cards and letters coming in, please.  And if you’d like to add your own two cents about words my brother made you look up – please do.

(*I didn’t create this website – that’s a specialized skill that was outsourced to my husband and a very good web design group called Wild Frog Studio but I did provide, as they say in the biz, the content.)