Could this be last word, in English or otherwise, on Geno's Steaks?

READING THE stories about Joey Vento's recently erected English-only sign at his Geno's Steaks in Philadelphia, the town of my birth, I laughed privately at the hypocrisy of the Vento family. But Jeff Jacoby's June 21 op-ed, "Misreading a sign of the times," made me decide to share .

I have strong memories of my one and only visit to Geno's in 1965, when Mr. Vento's family owned and operated the place and, reportedly, Joey worked behind the counter.

At that time, all the menus in Geno's Steaks were in Italian only, and the staff spoke Italian exclusively and refused to speak English to non-Italian-speaking customers. Even the ``Employees must wash hands before returning to work" sign in the men's room was in Italian. You had to either order in Italian, use charades, or point to a picture. Luckily, I was with my Italian-speaking girlfriend who translated the menu for me and ordered for us.

Amazing how things change, isn't it? And how, in some ways, they never change?

RICHARD F. WHITE, Sudbury