" Uh, who ? Patinkin ? "

    In a July 27 column , Mark Patinkin -after a phone encounter with an
" uh , duh " teenager - suggests that these kids be taught phone manners.
    But I wonder if they have been taught simple English communication
skills. I love the lyrics from " My Fair Lady " :
        " It's Uh and Duh that keep her in her place
         Not her wretched clothes and dirty face."
 ( a variation ) . When I hear teens listening to that savage,senseless,
   and violent rap music, I feel a threat to good, old fashioned CIVILIZATION
in my gut.
   A generation ago a half bright kid read the newspaper. He or she
would not have greeted a popular Providence Journal columnist like
Mark Patinkin with a witless " Uh " .
      Good luck with your own kids, Mark . I myself am a proud non-
parent of the New Age.