You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
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You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
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Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#2The most perplexing thing about New York English is the use of "on line" instead of "in line" when waiting for something.
Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#3The most perplexing thing about New York English is the use of "on line" instead of "in line" when waiting for something.
Well, are you standing on the line or have you been spaghettified?
Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#4"Cooperative overlap" -- I didn't know that there was a term for this! I've lived in NYC for my entire life (with the exception of my undergraduate), and it's something I've always noticed about my conversations with "native" friends versus transplants and friends from out-of-state.
Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#5The most perplexing thing about New York English is the use of "on line" instead of "in line" when waiting for something.
Well, are you standing on the line or have you been spaghettified?
There's very rarely an actual line to stand on ;)
"In line," meanwhile, suggests a line of people, any member of which is, well, "in."
Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, are you standing on the line or have you been spaghettified?
There's very rarely an actual line to stand on ;) "In line," meanwhile, suggests a line of people, any member of which is, well, "in."
There is a line you stand on, it just isn't drawn explicitly in ink or paint.
Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#7The most perplexing thing about New York English is the use of "on line" instead of "in line" when waiting for something.
Well, are you standing on the line or have you been spaghettified?
I somehow knew this was a Seinfeld quote, specifically said by Elaine, before even looking it up.
But turns out it isn’t.
(Edit: Elaine, not Ellen. Thanks for the correction)
Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#85 min sample of the audiobook: https://samples.audible.com/bk/tant/021266/bk_tant_021266_sa...
Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, are you standing on the line or have you been spaghettified?
I somehow knew this was a Seinfeld quote, specifically said by Elaine, before even looking it up. But turns out it isn’t. (Edit: Elaine, not Ellen. Thanks for the correction)
The character you are thinking of is named Elaine.
Re: You Talkin’ to Me? The Unruly History of New York English
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's very rarely an actual line to stand on ;) "In line," meanwhile, suggests a line of people, any member of which is, well, "in."
There is a line you stand on, it just isn't drawn explicitly in ink or paint.
If there's no line then you're simply in a sequence of points.
But if we get pedantic we accept this will never satisfy the definition of a geometric line and the Brits were right all along to call them queues.