Republican senator tries to snag Marty Walsh with a gotcha moment but fails miserably

By adamg on Thu., 2/4/2021 - 11:52 am

Katie Trojano at the Dorchester Reporter has been livetweeting Marty Walsh's confirmation hearings as the next labor secretary and reports on a Republican senator trying to blindside Marty Walsh as an elitist East Coast lib with one of those old Andy Hiller-type questions:

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) asks Walsh about the cost of living in Boston, where did he get his last cup of coffee and for how much? Walsh says: "Probably Doughboys Donuts and it was about $1.75."

— Katie Trojano (@katie_trojano) February 4, 2021

Neighborhoods:

Boston

Free tagging:

Marty Walsh

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Then he said coffee is free in Kansas.

By anon
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 12:00pm

As if that was a rebuttal.

Imagine asking someone from

By MattL
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 3:18pm

Imagine asking someone from Boston if they have cheap coffee as if Dunks is some small regional brand the rest of the country hasn't heard of.

Hate to break it to you

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 5:36pm

Dunks isn't a national brand by any stretch.

[img]https://i.insider.com/58334ebcba6eb61c008b5a03?wid...

That said

By Waquiot
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 7:33pm

It is an international brand.

Moreover, it can be found in 4 American time zones.

True

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 8:17pm

I've seen it in Barcelona and Berlin - rude shock!

Here's the honest truth

By Waquiot
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 8:56pm

I knew they were international, and kind of knew some of the countries where they operate, but I somehow randomly chose what turned out to be their second largest market. Who knew?

Midwestern Dunkin

By Whaddayatalk
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 5:00pm

Oh hey, that one dot right in the middle of Illinois is four blocks from my parentsâ€™ house.

Two notes. One, Marty adds an apostrophe-ess to

By MC Slim JB
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 12:08pm

Doughboy Donuts, like there's a Mr. Doughboy and it's his place -- Doughboy's -- as we do for everything here (Legal Sea Food is Legal's, etc. I once wrote a piece about this grammar-nerd peeve of mine, with suggestions to restaurateurs on how to name their places to repel the practice.)

Second, a small coffee at Doughboy is $1.95. Pretty spot on, Mahty.

I thought he was giving more

By Brian Riccio
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 12:16pm

of a shout-out to Doughboy Police Supply in Revere?

Coffee shop in Southie.

By Lmo
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 12:19pm

Coffee shop in Southie.

Youâ€™re kidding?

By Brian Riccio
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 1:31pm

Really?

Sorry I didnâ€™t pick up on

By Lmo
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 1:38pm

Sorry I didnâ€™t pick up on your joke.

Sorry, folks,

By Homer Bedloe
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 5:45pm

Tommy Menino is the only Doughboy receiving my loyalty.

Hypothesis:

By tblade
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 1:18pm

Hypothesis:

I think if we did a linguistic deep dive we might find that we tend to add an â€˜sâ€™ on to company nick names when the full name, when stated, ends in â€˜sâ€™. People say Legals (or Legalâ€™s) because the full name is Legal Sea Foods. Some say Dunks or Dunkins because it is (well, was for decades) Dunkinâ€™ Donuts. It would make a linguistic sense if there was a dialectical rule that some of us followed where when we contract full business names that end in an â€˜sâ€™ we simply move that s to the end of the short-hand version of that business name.

I am not suggesting we *should* do it this way, this just an observation that may explain the phenomenon. And there is the standard caveat with English that there are plenty of irregularities and exceptions to recognized rules.

I blame...

By Eighthman
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 1:36pm

... McDonaldâ€™s.

In addition to this...

By anon
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 2:09pm

I noticed that people add an "s" to the names of establishments in general, even when there is no "s" in the full name. It seems like an unconscious way of denoting ownership. I have actually heard people say "I'm going to Stop & Shop's", as if it were owned by Mr. Stop & Shop. Though it seems a completely different phenomenon somehow than the people who say "Boston Commons", "Public Gardens" and "Boston Gardens".

One word

By Gary C
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 5:25pm

Caldors

Zayre

By anon
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 8:11pm

Zayre too. Back when it existed, I don't think there was a single person who didn't call it "Zayre's".

Amesâ€™s

By SamW
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 10:25pm

Up in Maine we had Amesâ€™s, deah.

And

By WalkingTheDog
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 6:59am

Zayres

The Book of Revelations

By starstrewn
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 12:23am

...instead of Revelation.

Don't be ridiculous, Stop &

By brianjdamico
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 7:20am

Don't be ridiculous, Stop & Shop has two owners, Mr. Stop and Mr. Shop.

I go to Stawppie's.

By deepfreeze
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 10:05am

I go to Stawppie's.

Coffee

By plt3012
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 1:42pm

Agreed. A medium regular will run you $2.40.

By anon
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 8:40am

If you add in the 7 percent meals tax.

Looking forward to reading

By Scratchie
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 11:32am

Looking forward to reading this. I used to work at Friendly's back in the mid-80s, when the name of the restaurant was still officially "Friendly" (short for "Friendly Ice Cream," the name of the original shop out in western MA). Of course, everyone called it "Friendly's" back then, but at some point they bowed the inevitable and changed the name.

I wouldn't call it a pet peeve of mine, but it's certainly a regional(?) linguistic curiosity that has fascinated me ever since.

I once wrote a piece about this grammar-nerd peeve of mine

I don't think its regional

By fungwah
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 12:18pm

I grew up in the Midwest, and heard a lot of people talk about shopping at Meijer's or Kroger's, despite neither of those actually ending with S.

With you on the possessives tick...

By boo_urns
Sat, 02/06/2021 - 1:57pm

I couldn't help but chuckle at the time stamp of the post (1:54 AM). It was juxtaposed nicely with the first paragraph preface of other peoples' incredulousness that you think about it at all, let alone in the wee hours of the morning. Enjoyed the read, though; thanks for sharing!

What a bag job!

By Brian Riccio
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 12:14pm

More than obvious that every Congressperson at this hearing heard from their union donors and they want their moronic bag man in office.

Not one question about his abysmal record as Mayor on City contracts going to his white pals, no mention of Boston Calling or Operation Clean Sweep or any of the many fuck ups this idiot has put this town through.

So much for draining the swamp.

Draining the swamp

By Wiffleball
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 12:46pm

was the last guy. Do try to keep up.

I can see that the nuance

By Brian Riccio
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 1:29pm

was lost on you. I thought Biden was cleaning out the hacks and the bums.

I'm guessing

By Waquiot
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 4:59pm

You just tried to make a joke here.

Brian - You Are Originally From Revere

By John Costello
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 5:59pm

May we get 6,000 words from you on City Government in that corrupt little burg before you napalm Boston?

You obviously don't follow me on Twitter

By Brian Riccio
Fri, 02/05/2021 - 12:56am

As I'm sure our esteemed webmaster can tell you, I've written a lot more than 6k words on corruption and racism in Revere city government.

Who writes these questions?

By Elise
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 12:32pm

Asking a questions like this just makes the Senator seem out of touch. Anyone, millionaire or not, could easily have just answered "Dunkin" or "Cumberland Farms" and "$2".

Obvi Marty went for the extra points with a small business.

Funny thing is

By SwirlyGrrl
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 8:21pm

Starbucks ain't much different in price for a basic brewed coffee.

I'm betting Doughboy's doughnuts beat the pants off of dunkinchunks, too.

Sad.

By Rob
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 1:08pm

Sad.
A Republican Senator couldn't even come up with an opportunistic gotcha question that had a couple of teeth, such as "why should we approve a Secretary of Labor who apparently can't capably screen rank-and-file candidates for leadership positions and has to suspend them less than a week after appointing them?"

To many in the GOP

By BostonDog
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 2:16pm

Marty's real fault would be suspending the Chief instead of defending him.

Good question but no answer

By JohnAKeith
Thu, 02/04/2021 - 2:23pm

With smart cards, who knows? Doughboy, no problem but at Dunkin, who knows, esp since prices vary (did you know that?).

I couldn't quote the current bus or subway fare even though I used it every day, and what if you have a pass?

Great answer but the mayor.

If only they had actually pressed him on real issues like when a senator asked him if supported right to work and he gave a nonsensical response and they moved on.

Republican senator tries to snag Marty Walsh with a gotcha moment but fails miserably

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