Posted by Alex Mutter '65.5
on 6/30/2009, 4:54 pm, in reply to "Re: Ptown is a Place"
72.218.68.237
Hi, Janet. I agree with our using real names and contact info, but we have to part ways about "Ptown", dear sister aluma. To me, for the last 20 years or so, it has connoted folks who were just too lazy or ignorant to bother to learn how to pronounce the name of "our" hometown. I honestly think it was imported from Norfolk or otherwhere as a disparagement. This is personal opinion only, but to me, Ptown conjures up images like the ones in the video that Gary cheerfully shared with us last year. I see gangstas, exposed male underwear, and think of loud, nerve-shattering rap music whenever I encounter that particular phrase.
I honestly think it was brought to us by the same "loving folk" who gave us "J-Dub" for Jeffrey Wilson Homes. I have a young friend from work who is now 30, but used to hang out there with the rough crowd when he was in his early 20's. He was astounded one day when I gave him a short bio and history of Portsmouth's own Jeffrey Wilson, a former slave who used to write a community column for the local newspaper long, long ago.
Again, this is only my personal opinion about the "Ptown" nickname. If you like it, then by all means, feel free to use it. Don't even get me started on the Hampton Roads vs. Tidewater flap. I'm a firm Tidewaterite in that debate.
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