Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2007

Definitely longest.  The shortest decade I've experienced was the 1990s.
The 1980s were fairly long, especially the first half, but nowhere near as
long as the 1970s.

No, although I think at that time "Spaldeen" may have been a trademark
for a particular subtype of Spalding rubber ball (imprinted on the ball
itself).  I've read about the usage of "Spaldeen" as a generic or
quasi-generic term for rubber ball in New York (LCIA), but it appears to
be an older-generational thing.

That would suggest that he was from my home town, Flatbush (The Heart of
Brooklyn [FLCIA]).  Erasmus was the public high school for which we were
'zoned' when I was a kid, but my elder brother and sister used a fake
address (my great-aunt Dora's address, IIRC) in order to attend Midwood
High School (our street was, I think, the dividing line for the two high
school zones, and we lived on the north side of the street).  Erasmus was,
by the mid-1970s, rapidly declining in quality and safety, while Midwood
was still very highly regarded.  As it happens, neither of them had to
continue using the fake address, because they were admitted to special
honors-type programs at Midwood, which enabled the admittee to live
outside of the zone.

Erasmus has a very distinguished history. It started out as a private
academy, and was founded by Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr of dueling
fame, among others, according to Wikipedia. At some point it became a
public school.  It has a number of distinguished graduates, particularly
in show business, including Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, Betty Comden,
Stephanie Mills, Barbara Stanwyck, Eli Wallach, Robert Silverberg, Mae
West, Micky Spillane, Lainie Kazan, Joseph Barbera and Bernard Malamud.  
Bobby Fischer of chess fame attended but dropped out (= ApproxBrE "never
became a school-leaver").

My elementary school graduation ceremony was held at Erasmus, IIRC.

Brooklyn is not shaped like a handgun, nor is it America in miniature.

[...]

Same everywhere else, of course. At least one celebrated English soccer
player of our time, Nat Lofthouse, even kept up his "day job" -- in his
case, down the coal pit. Australian cricketers were nominally amateurs
till surprisingly recently. I imagine the change came in the US for the
same reason as elsewhere -- television started throwing money.