The Great Aeropostale Debate -- With or Without the "T"?

The debate in my house for almost a week now has been how to pronounce the name of the popular clothing store, Aeropostale.  Do you pronounce the T or not?  My oldest says without, and my youngest says with.  These girls are only nineteen months (11 & 12) apart and are at the age where they can bicker about anything or nothing. 

Usually I can break their feud with my opinion being the tie breaker, but not this time.  I've always pronounced the name without the T.  As a teenager, all my friends did, too.  It may have been due to my geographic location.  I don't know.  This answer didn't satisfy my little one who told me "You people just don't know about this kind of stuff anymore."  The image of the fence came rushing to the front of my mind again.  See earlier post.

She told me she'd prove she was right and bring home hard data from school.  She was sure everyone in her (advanced) fifth grade class pronounced the T.  A tally mark list would be her proof.  My 7th grader took a poll of her friends via text message.

Their results are in.  It was unanimous in the fifth grade.  Aeropostale is pronounced with a T.  Of my seventh graders close circle of friends, 80% pronounce it with a T. 

These results are backed by Wikipedia's pronunciation of the word.  However, I don't know if I'm truly convinced. Everyone that I know (from my generation) drops the T.  And when we shopped their  Wiregrass location in Tampa on Friday, their own employee greeted us, "Welcome to Aeropostale," without pronouncing the T.

I guess this means the subject is still open for debate.  Is Aeropostale pronounced with or without the "T"?  I'd like to hear from you.  How do you pronounce, Aeropostale?

- Heather Tweet

Locked The Keys In The Car

Taking my eleven and twelve-year old daughters shopping is anything but dull.  Something unexpected always happens.  Usually I'm embarrassed beyond belief by my younger daughter, which I am happy to say was not the case today. However my older, responsible, trustworthy, follows every rule daughter decided it was her turn to make sure our day wouldn't go as planned.

With today being a No School Day, we decided to take the drive to The Shops at Wiregrass down in Tampa.  Being in the car for an hour, always requires an immediate bathroom break.  Amidst their bickering about where we'd go first, I ushered them into the Barnes & Noble since I was sure they'd have a bathroom.  Being in a bookstore is like heaven for me, and probably my only chance to visit one today.

On our way out, my oldest realized she left her phone in the car.  Being that I'd just gotten her this new phone a few weeks back, I didn't want it heating up in the car.  Any of my Facebook friends already know the Saga of the Green Cell Phone. I only shook my head and allowed her to walk back across the parking lot to retrieve her phone watching her the whole way.  She was so happy I let her to go back to the car on her own and came back with a huge smile on her face.

The smile quickly changed to panic when I asked her for the keys.  She patted her pockets, looked in her purse, and showed me her phone.  I gave her the look only a mother can give and told her, "Don't even..."  as the three of us walked across the street.  And sure enough, there were the keys sitting on the back seat.  After a few crocidile tears, which she can turn on at the drop of a hat, we made our way back into the mall to shop as planned and get in touch with their dad who had the spare key.

To my surprise and delight, the only slight reprimand I had to give my youngest was to stop saying, "This looks like old lady stuff!" especially when we walked by a store full of older women.  She's my fashion guru, and while I wholeheartedly agreed with her assessment, there are times when you need to keep your opinions to yourself.  It's a life lesson hard for children to grasp and one some adults never have.

All in all it was a great day.  Life moves us at such a fast pace.  There's never enough time to just stop and spend it with the kids doing whatever we want.  Being stranded for a few hours didn't hurt any of us.  We had a good time laughing, talking, and wandering into a few stores we probably wouldn't have. Tweet