At 06:03 PM 8/31/99 EDT, you wrote:
>If the reference is from the sports section, that would be 'ribbies' , the
>spoken version of R.B.I.s, or  'runs batted in'.
>Maybe this confirms your point about specialist jargon.
>But then you don't find non-initiates writing in the sports section.
>Best, Jay Anania
>
 
Ah, and now we learn of just the sort of regional variant that makes
ppoetics such an exacting task.  In the old Baltimore ball field (haven't
been to the new one yet), it was pronounced "rubies."  This was in the same
ball park that I learned that when someone "flied out" it didn't mean that
he'd taken a jet.
And I never expected to find non-initiates _writing_ in the sports section
-- what I don't understand is why their writing is not viewed as elitist,
while poets who quote from foreign languages are --
 
Since we're in this ball park, can anyone cite any Poundian writing on our
national sport?  I'm not sure that I've ever seen anything from Pound to
compare with Moore on this score.