Something About Sonorous Busses

Hush that fuss.

Richard Cardenas is celebrating John Bellairs Month this January and supporting an online read-along of The Dark Secret of Weatherend (1984), the second book in the Anthony Monday series.

I want to address one of the oddest clues Bellairs provided his readers during the early 1980s. His books had some esoteric clues during this time. "Interred by Angels" (from The Curse of the Blue Figurine, 1983), "Staunton Harold" (from The Mummy, the Will, and the Crypt, 1983), "A great reckoning in a little room" (from The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull, 1984), and "Ensign French is the boss" (from The Revenge of the Wizard's Ghost, 1985) are all standouts. But for Weatherend we're asked "does the sonorous bus go ______-______?" as seen as a clue in the long-lost journal of J.K. Borkman

Eh.

When the book was first published and someone asked what sonorous meant he or she may have been told to look it up in their Funk and Wagnalls. And now I see I've dated myself and I'll have to explain both the sonorous bus and the Funk and Wagnalls. Anyway, it's Anthony who eventually understood the riddle:

"It's just that dumb old joke!" said Anthony. "Old Mr. Borkman is buried up in Duluth, and there's this joke that goes 'Does this bus go to Duluth?', and the answer is 'No, this bus goes beep-beep!'"

This then is a joke based on word play and homophones and I wonder if it even made sense after Anthony's explanation. Were young readers walking around trying to sound out "toodle-oot" properly? If you don't add the ending-H sound to Duluth then it might make more sense. I also wonder if the original clue – and indeed, the book itself – would have made more sense if Borkman's clue was reversed. That is, what if Borkman wrote "the sonorous bus goes toodle-oot"? I imagine he would have had to written a few other clues to ensure readers understand it's a joke. (Recall the "drake cake, bustard custard, puffin muffin" clue from The Secret of the Underground Room, 1990.) But then, how many jokes or riddles would you expect in a journal written by a guy who is trying to wipe the earth clean with severe weather?

The one funny thing is seeing how old and wide-spread this joke is nowadays. Look up "sonorous bus" online today and it's described as a Garrison Keillor one-liner and a stereotypical dad joke. Those of us who initially read Weatherend 35+ years old didn’t have Google, and if we didn't actually live in or near Duluth then we likely never heard this joke before. And if you're like me you didn't find the "joke" all that funny. Or interesting.

Oh. One more thing. During certain scenes of banter between Dan Rowan and Dick Martin on the NBC comedy-variety show Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968-73), after a particular anecdote of trivia or wisdom, Dick Martin would end the saying by stating, "Look that up in your Funk & Wagnalls!" Sales of the dictionary reportedly increased by 30% as a result of this recurring joke.

Look that up on your Wikipedia.  Plus here's more about Duluth.