Sorry: I wasn’t really aware that the name “RONALD REAGAN National Airport” was so infuriating to a bunch of people that I was already cheerfully contemptuous towards. Under the circumstances, my only regret is that I’m not writing thing on Saturday morning, so that my saying “RONALD REAGAN National Airport!” wasn’t contributing to more hangovers right now. Anyway, this is what I really took away from that article:
In the long run, it looks like “Reagan” will win out. Our survey found that younger generations are more likely to use Reagan, regardless of political affiliation. That may be because, to them, “Reagan” simply connotes “the convenient airport that’s on Metro” — just as “Dulles,” to many locals, means “the airport that’s way out in Virginia,” not “the namesake of John Foster Dulles, architect of Cold War brinkmanship.”
That’s certainly the case for Denzel Thomas, 25.
“I don’t know much about Ronald Reagan,” said the D.C.-based artist, while waiting for a flight to Miami. “I think he was president before I was born.”
Don’t be absurd: ’25’ means that the guy was born in… 1990.
Oh, God, I am old.
Moe Lane
Via @gabrielmayor.