240,000 Bank Records Released

February 1, 2006 8:36 AM

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette, a Mass. newspaper which shares a computer system with the Boston Globe (both of whom are owned by the New York Times), has inadvertently released close to 240,000 Globe and T&G subscriber credit card and bank routing records. The records, accidently printed by employees on two separate occasions, were apparently placed into the recycling bin at the T&R, which then used that paper to bundle the Sunday edition prior to distribution.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow (49 comments total)

Now that's how you do it!
posted by horsemuth at 8:40 AM on February 1, 2006

Worcestershire, as in

"What's this here sauce?"
posted by squalor at 8:46 AM on February 1, 2006

It's Worcester btw, not Worster.

Ugg. And I've been living in Mass for seven years at this point... My bad.
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 8:47 AM on February 1, 2006

wooster
posted by Baby_Balrog at 8:51 AM on February 1, 2006

Oh my god. Now that is just stupid. Hahahah.

Normally when I get a notification that some company lost some backup tapes, or a CD got lost in the mail I just think "meh, it's probably gone". but in this case they actually ended up distributing different pages to hundreds of different people (all their delivery people, I guess).

That's just funny.
posted by delmoi at 8:55 AM on February 1, 2006

Double whammy... I subscribe to both... stupid me.

Had to re-read that post a few times to make it past the typos, I couldn't figure out what the T&R was.
posted by inthe80s at 9:08 AM on February 1, 2006

Peabody is pronounced Pee-bud-ee
Worcester is pronounced Wuh-sta or Wor-ster
Alewife is properly pronounced as "Al-aye-wee-fay"
posted by VulcanMike at 9:08 AM on February 1, 2006

Credit to GernBlandston for breaking this story on MeFi.
posted by caddis at 9:13 AM on February 1, 2006

Alewife is properly pronounced as "Al-aye-wee-fay"

Now you're just making shit up.

Take a stab at Scituate, why doncha?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:18 AM on February 1, 2006

On the Red Line the announcement says AIL-WYFE. Good enough for me.
Although, when I was looking for an apt. around Framingham/Worcester a few years ago, I heard Shrewsbury spoken as 'shoos-bree'.
posted by exlotuseater at 9:25 AM on February 1, 2006

Now you're just making shit up.

I haven't heard that one, but there are some odd pronunciations out there.

"Mackinac" is pronounced Mak-in-aw.
posted by caddis at 9:26 AM on February 1, 2006

Billerica: Burricka
Norwood: Noahwood
Danvers: Danviz
Chelmsford: Chemsfid
Westford: Wesfid
Haverhill: Hayvrill
Athol: Ah-thol
Walpole: Cedah Junction
posted by Kirth Gerson at 9:27 AM on February 1, 2006

Wooster? Ask Jeeves.
posted by crunchland at 9:27 AM on February 1, 2006

Totally unrelated to this, but since its not often the mother land gets national press, I would like to point out that Worcester’s unofficial mascot is a statue of a boy humping a turtle, which sits on the city common.


posted by paxton at 9:28 AM on February 1, 2006

Well, subsitute the paper's subscribers for the turtle and you've got an adequate representation of what happened.
posted by spicynuts at 9:30 AM on February 1, 2006

Kirth- You forgot

Shrewsbury-"Shoosbree
Leominster-"Lehminsta"
Hubbardston-"Uhbadstin"
and my personal favorite...
Liecester-"Lesta"

On topic, I suspect this will hurt badly an already hurting Globe/T&G subscription base. I just read both online.
posted by rollbiz at 9:41 AM on February 1, 2006

BTW

Alewife is properly pronounced as "Al-aye-wee-fay"

I also call bullshit. I grew up in Porter Sq. just a few stops from there and I never heard such a thing.
posted by rollbiz at 9:44 AM on February 1, 2006

I work at the Globe (boston.com), and take the Worcester Express train home every night. I can guarantee that it's pronounced "Wustah!" Also, I live near Berlin (MA), which is, of course, pronounced "Burl-un", not "Ber-linn" - and try to decipher the name "Yawkey Station" when heard over a train's PA "Yorkey? Hockey? Donkey?" Nope - Yawkey - it's a real name.
posted by kokogiak at 10:01 AM on February 1, 2006

And try "Quincy", yep - it's "Kwin-zee"
posted by kokogiak at 10:02 AM on February 1, 2006

So the Worcester T&G wants me to register in order to read a story about how they just gave away the private information of 240,000 people? Bah!
posted by R. Mutt at 10:06 AM on February 1, 2006

Oh, and just in case the "Al-aye-wee-fay" bit is supposed to be some ancient historical pronunciation, it isn't. The Alewife is a fish that supposedly tastes good when washed down with ale. Ale. Wife. The T station is named (a couple of times removed) after a nearby brook, which probably had that fish in it before it became a drainage ditch for Rte.2.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:06 AM on February 1, 2006

Alewife is properly pronounced as "Al-aye-wee-fay"

Another native here. No one says it like this!

rollbiz: "shoosbree" is a (hysterically) perfect spelling.
posted by jdl at 10:08 AM on February 1, 2006

The fact that this thread has turned into a discussion of how to pronounce "Alewife" is just further evidence of Woscester's irrelevance.
posted by R. Mutt at 10:12 AM on February 1, 2006

My favorite news-reader memory is of the recent transplant to Channel 5 who talked about something happening in "Stuffton". Of course, she meant Stoughton. (Pronounced "Stowtn.")
posted by Kirth Gerson at 10:16 AM on February 1, 2006

Also (since we're in full derail here)
Tewksbury = Tooksbree
Lechmere = Leech-meer
posted by kokogiak at 10:22 AM on February 1, 2006

Wayne: So, do you come to Milwaukee often?
Alice Cooper: Well, I’m a regular visitor here, but Milwaukee has certainly had its share of visitors. The French missionaries and explorers began visiting here in the late 16th century.
Pete: Hey, isn’t “Milwaukee” an Indian name?
Alice Cooper: Yes, Pete, it is. In fact , it’s pronounced “mill-e-wah-que” which is Algonquin for “the good land.”
Wayne: I was not aware of that.
posted by louie at 10:23 AM on February 1, 2006

And don't leave out:

Somerville = "Sumahvil"
Medford = "Mehfah"

As in: "Sumahvil, gateway ta Mehfah."
posted by R. Mutt at 10:23 AM on February 1, 2006

R. Mutt, not only do they want you to register, but the honor of reading about their incompetence is only available to those who give them the personal information (ie subscribers).

...Or, in my case, those who "borrow" registration info from paying customers...
posted by rollbiz at 10:42 AM on February 1, 2006

And Somerville has but one great thing going for it. It's home to Good Times, a ghettoized version of Jillian's.

If you're local and you haven't been, you're missing out. Little kids tugging at your pant legs begging for change whilst their parents slump over the bar drunk and semiconscious. A real Massachussetts treat.
posted by rollbiz at 10:48 AM on February 1, 2006

The alewife (fish) was named because of its round belly, which apparently resembles an alewife (female brewer).

And to answer the Scituate question, it's "SIT-chew-it". (I'm there right now, in fact, preparing volunteer training manuals for the spring alewife run and herring count.)
posted by nekton at 10:57 AM on February 1, 2006

I also seem to remember my Italian grandmother refering to Scituate (or was it Hull?) as "The Irish Riviera".
posted by R. Mutt at 11:08 AM on February 1, 2006

I believe that's Scituate.
posted by rollbiz at 11:20 AM on February 1, 2006

Christ. I've not been to the UK, but I've seen Shakespeare's plays. This isn't wacky Mass. pronunciation, it's how these place names (Worcester, Liecester, etc.) are properly pronounced.
posted by Ethereal Bligh at 11:26 AM on February 1, 2006

I also seem to remember my Italian grandmother refering to Scituate (or was it Hull?) as "The Irish Riviera".

I thought that was Ruhveeah. (Revere)
posted by Kirth Gerson at 11:41 AM on February 1, 2006

Mod note: fixed the fpp typos
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 11:45 AM on February 1, 2006

Spoilsport.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 12:06 PM on February 1, 2006

When I rode the Green Line back in my grad-school days I often passed a sign that perplexed me. "Elevator to Alewife" it said, and as a native Rhode Islander, I had no idea what that was or meant. I always thought it would make a good band name.

I live about 20 minutes south of Worcester, in a town with an utterly pronouncable name.
posted by Biblio at 12:37 PM on February 1, 2006

The Irish Riviera is the collective name for any of a number of Massachusett's South Shore towns. Specifically the lower middle class towns like Marshfield and Kingston. Certainly not Scituate. and most definately not Revere (pronounced Raveah) which is on the North Shore.
posted by Gungho at 12:51 PM on February 1, 2006

Back on topic...
Apparently they were recycling some office papers by printing the routing slips on the back of the customer information printouts. I have to admire their desire to save trees...considering it is a newspaper and all...
posted by Gungho at 12:53 PM on February 1, 2006

I hear there's a lot of in and out traffic in Athol.
posted by willns at 1:12 PM on February 1, 2006

Marshfield! Thats it. My mistake.
posted by R. Mutt at 2:20 PM on February 1, 2006

Worcester, also known by the denizens as wormtown - and, as I've noted on Mefi before, home of the M16 and the birth control pill. And the birthplace of yours truly. In fact, I once worked at the T&G, and I see things haven't changed for the better.
posted by madamjujujive at 3:57 PM on February 1, 2006

Don't forget Podunk and the Podunk Pike about 20 miles or so west.
posted by Jumpin Jack Flash at 4:57 PM on February 1, 2006

LOWELL
posted by cortex at 6:26 PM on February 1, 2006

glad i cancelled the globe about 3 years ago!
posted by brandz at 7:01 PM on February 1, 2006

"Worcester, also known by the denizens as wormtown - and, as I've noted on Mefi before, home of the M16 and the birth control pill." - Not to mention the birthplace of first American insane asylum, the Smiley Face, and the typewriter.

Emma Goldman lived in Worcester for a bit, in ( as I recall ) a vacant ice cream parlor. Abby Hoffman was born in Wustah as well.
posted by troutfishing at 9:08 PM on February 1, 2006

Dennis Leary threw up in Worcester. True story. I can't remember the details, but there was definitely Dennis Leary, and definitely some upchucking.
posted by cortex at 7:52 AM on February 2, 2006

cotex, that Dennis Leary story sounds familiar - he has many Worcester connections, particularly with the firefighters. Here is a firefighter foundation he started after he lost a cousin and a dear friend in the terrible Worcester warehouse fire that claimed six firefighters' lives in 2000.
posted by madamjujujive at 12:37 PM on February 2, 2006

Um, for those of you with severely impaired senses of humor:

Alewife is properly pronounced as "Al-aye-wee-fay"

Was what we in the business call a "joke." It was clearly intended as a sendup of these off-the-wall pronunciations. You may now unclench and laugh, or at least smile wrily.

In my thread on local pronunciations (now three years old and still attracting commneters -- people love this stuff!) someone just said Barkhamstead in Connecticut is bark-HAM-sted. Can anyone verify this?
posted by languagehat at 4:14 AM on February 3, 2006