I didn't know either of these facts until my outing today with Alicia and Jordan. After sleeping in, a lazy breakfast of cherios and sliced bannanas and who could forget the assorted Jelly Bellys, or the fun we had playing with foam blocks, the three of us set out to buy rollerblades. A visit to Sports Authority, REI, a specialy ski and skate shop and then Dick's Sporting Good store proved to be a failure in that I came home empty handed. BUT I did learn a lot about roller blades thanks to Dave at Pierce Skate and Ski including the fact that rollerblades were invented in Minneapolis, MN. To which I blurted out, "who knew!" and then quietly laughed at myself knowing that this would be come my next blog post because of the irony of coming to MN to visit and buy rollerblades.
History of Rollerblades:
1979 - Scott Olson and Brennan Olson, brothers and hockey players who lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota, found an antique pair of roller skates. It was one of the early skates that used the 'in-line' wheels rather than the four-wheeled parallel design of James Plimpton. Intrigued by the in-line design, the brothers began redesigning roller skates, taking design elements from the found skates and using modern materials. They used polyurethane wheels, attached the skates to ice hockey boots, and added a rubber toe-brake to their new design. http://www.landroller.com/history-of-roller-skates.htm
In the midst of all this shopping we stopped for lunch at Gyropolis. As we pulled in I decided that today was the day to once and for all learn the correct pronunication of the word "gyro". So after enjoying a delicious gyro I came home and conducted a little internet research project. Here is what I came up with:
Pronunciation of Gyro: 
"The pronunciation of "Gyro" varies throughout the United States. In the Midwest and West, it is most often pronounced "YEE-ROH," while in the New York City area or New England, as well as California, it is usually pronounced "JAI-ROH."" http://www.answers.com/topic/gyros
By the way, the title of this post is inline skates translated in Greek for those of you not fluent in the language.
3 comments:
When on our walk at Greenlake last week, Esther continued to ask if she would be able to go in the bike lane if she was on her scooter. I told her that she would be able to, only if she could keep up with the people on rollerblades. I think when you come to visit, we need to have a rollerblade/Razor scooter showdown!
First I love that you have fun wonderings about words such as Gyro and that there is multiple ways to pronounce it. That is so great. I have to try one some time. And basically I do the same thing.
Second I love that you watched American Idol. I haven't watched in years past but this year was my year to watch and I have to say I loved it. I did want David Cook to win.
Wahoo! I am so excited you have rollerblades! When are we going to take them out for a spin?
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