I think I speak for most New Yorkers when I say–without the slightest intention of sour grapes–good. One less thing to worry about.
PAD
I think I speak for most New Yorkers when I say–without the slightest intention of sour grapes–good. One less thing to worry about.
PAD
• 
I guess so. If you call having our tourism industry losing millions of dollars because of intensifying the “ugly American” stereotype.
Look at it this way: I didn’t think much about your “I’m a New Yorker” comment and I hate NY (f–k the Yankees! Go O’s!)! But thanks to Cowboy George, the non-Americans immediately jumped on it as another sign American jingoism.
Perception is everything, innit? I actually DID laugh out loud at Matt’s “I’m not a North American. I’m a New Yorker.” I got a picture of a little, overweight guy in an oversized Met’s shirt thumping his hairy chest trying to pick a fight (an utterly different image than I normally associate with Matt). It just seems so spot-on for the stereotypical New Yorker.
If you think about it, New Yorkers are pretty prime. Off hand there are a handful of instantly recognized US stereotypes:
1. The prototypical Southerner (encompasses half a dozen states)
2. The Western Cowboy (Also encompasses half a dozen states)
3. The New Yorker (One state. See? These guys are special).
So, anyway, Matt, I got it and found it amusing.
We lived in Atlanta during the Olympics and I’d be glad if it had passed us by.
What he did say was that people who opposed the West Side Stadium were “all because of a bunch of greedy, selfish, dishonest people.” And that’s pretty undefendable.
Actually, from what I read about the stadium deal, it’s a fairly accurate statement.
3. The New Yorker (One state. See? These guys are special).
Actually, when people refer to “New Yorkers”, they’re usually referring to the city, not the state.
And yes, we are special. 😉
What he did say was that people who opposed the West Side Stadium were “all because of a bunch of greedy, selfish, dishonest people.” And that’s pretty undefendable.
This statement is a little unclear. are the bunch of greedy, selfish, dishonest people those who oppose the stadium or those who want it?
If the former, then yeah, it is indefensible.
Den:
“…the non-Americans immediately jumped on it as another sign American jingoism.”
Hey, I live in Ohio. Last time I checked that did not make me a non-American. Unless Canada invaded Ohio this morning?
We shoot students here. You think we’ll hesitate to shoot some Royal Canadian Mounted Moose-lovers? THINK AGAIN CANUCK-HEADS!
Okay, my mistake. Ohio is still part of the union, but after the way you screwed up the last election, if Canada wants to annex you, they’re welcome to it.
And of course, you weren’t the only one who jumped on Matt’s statement.
*I* didn’t screw it up. *I* voted for David Duke.
WAY j/k (well.. about DD, I still don’t think *I* screwed it up.)
“You” as in the collective citizens of the state of Ohio.
Ðámņ, the English language should never have dropped the idea of have separate pronouns for second person singular and plural.
So you’re saying there’s an upside to Bush’s foreign policy…
Now that is funny.
Ðámņ, the English language should never have dropped the idea of have separate pronouns for second person singular and plural.
That’s the upside of the Southern dialect — we have “y’all” for “you-singular” and “all y’all” for “you-plural”. ^_^
Chris Grillo: LMAO
“That’s the upside of the Southern dialect — we have ‘y’all’ for ‘you-singular’ and ‘all y’all’ for ‘you-plural’. ^_^”
Or the variant I learned in the AF, where it’s “you” singular and “y’all” plural.
Of course, the Nyawkuhs here are also familiar with the use of the singular “you” and the plural “youse”…
🙂
Of course, the Nyawkuhs here are also familiar with the use of the singular “you” and the plural “youse”…
Youse can be used in the singular if you’re from Bensonherst in Brooklyn.
“all because of a bunch of greedy, selfish, dishonest people.” And that’s pretty undefendable.
I was referring to Cablevision and Bloomberg’s political rivals. They weren’t opposing the stadium (and airing costly TV ads making dramatically dire and false claims) because they were concerned about the economic effect it would have on the city… they were doing because, in Cablevision case, they didn’t want the competition for Madison Square Garden (which they own), and in his political rivals case, it’s because there’s an election in November.
I personally believe the stadium would have helped the city tremendously, but I have no objection to people with an honest difference of opinion… but those people weren’t honest. So yeah, I think they are greedy, selfish and dishonest. I think if the plan had been to build a new stadium for Cablevision, or if the plan had come from one of their political allies, those guys would have been all in favor of it.
Actually, when people refer to “New Yorkers”, they’re usually referring to the city, not the state.
Yeah, the upstaters hate us 🙂
“You” as in the collective citizens of the state of Ohio.
Watch it, he’s not an Ohioan. He’s a citizen of the universe.
Yeah, Matt. That pretty much squares with what I’ve read about many of the opponents. Of course, I also think that opposite is true: That the people who were trying to build the stadium were being greedy and selfish as well, not to mention short-sighted. I mean, if you’re going to build a stadium in a city of 20 million, don’t you think a few parking spaces might be in order? I know New Yorkers like their subway, but also know that there are those that prefer to drive, like my two brothers-in-law.
Well, screw the Jets anyway. They deserve to play in Jersey.
Matt Adler: NOW you’re starting to get it!!
Youse can be used in the singular if you’re from Bensonherst in Brooklyn.
‘Scuse me, that’s “Bensonhoist”.
Well, screw the Jets anyway. They deserve to play in Jersey.
I wonder if they’ll give up on it so easy, though. I mean, the Olympics are gone, so there’s none of that leverage anymore, but the Jets still want a new stadium… perhaps they’ll try to resurrect this plan at some later point, or even in another spot.
Who knows, maybe NY will get more favorable terms this time, given that there isn’t the Olympic imperative looming.
3. The New Yorker (One state. See? These guys are special).
Actually, when people refer to “New Yorkers”, they’re usually referring to the city, not the state.
And yes, we are special. 😉
Ðámņ skippy. I was relocated by force as a kid and I still consider myself a New Yorker (or as PAD has correctly pointed out, NooYawkah — hëll it even sounds like a tribal name).
Thanks for explaining soft ball, it’s baseball with bigger balls.
Oh the smut in the above statement is so obvious lol.
I was relocated by force as a kid and I still consider myself a New Yorker
You can take the kid out of New York, but…
You gotta wonder just how lucky this was for New York.
Was the mess in London right now a part of a long term plan that already targeted London, a response to G8 or part of a long term plan to hit the winner of the Olympics?
Four simulataneous bombings takes some planning and preparation and the announcement about London getting the Olympics was just yesterday. I doubt they would have had time to execute this in just 24 hours. G8 is planned months in advance. That’s the most likely target.
My first thoughts were that it was triggered by the Olympic bid, but that would mean the cell would have to have prepared bombs and scouted targets, and just be awaiting a moment to strike.
No, this kind of coordinated, cowardly attack takes weeks, if not months, to plan. And we already know that terrorist cells are big on symbolic dates…the start of the G8 conference is a pretty big date.
Peter David: Two hundred years ago, people fought and died so we could have the right to be called “Americans” and suddenly everybody’s got to slap on places of descent as if being simply “American” isn’t good enough. And it’s not even ACCURATE. You’ve got people who have two African ancestors a couple centuries ago calling themselves “African-Americans.” Great. My mother came from Palestine on the continent of Asia, so technically I’ve got more reason to call myself an Asian-American than they do African-American, but people would look at me like I’m nuts.
Luigi Novi: Of course, technically, we’re all African-Americans. 🙂
or part of a long term plan to hit the winner of the Olympics?
I kinda doubt they decided not to hit the U.S. just because we didn’t get the Olympics.
“THE PRESIDENT: We are fighting these terrorists with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond so we do not have to face them in the streets of our own cities.”
Yep, it was actually said.
Knuckles, this is totally off topic, but are you by any chance Canadian?
’cause then we could call you K-nuck the canuck.
Just a thought.
“We are fighting these terrorists with our military in Afghanistan and Iraq and beyond so we do not have to face them in the streets of our own cities.”
Why did he say that? were they planning an invasion? ’cause I think we outnumber them by just a tad. Also, we aren’t fighting the terrorists in Iraq, we are fighting Iraquis in Iraq. The terrorists, if you recall, were in Pakistan. But we can’t attack them ’cause they are our friends.
I posted the above in response to a question on the London Calling thread, but felt that it really shouldn’t be put in there. That was a campaign speech given by GW last year.
I’m not Canadian, but I am from Seattle. Many Canadians I’ve met seem to think that’s close enough for them.
James:
“But we can’t attack them ’cause they are our friends.”
And they have the bomb.
“Two words. Nuclear f’ing weapons, okay?! Russia, Germany, Romania – they can have all the Democracy they want. They can have a big democracy cake-walk right through the middle of Tiananmen square and it won’t make a lick of difference because we’ve got the bombs, okay?!
John Wayne’s not dead – he’s frozen. And as soon as we find the cure for cancer we’re gonna thaw out the Duke and he’s gonna be pretty p.o.’d. You know why? Have you ever taken a cold shower? Well multiple that by 15-million times, that’s how p.o.’d the Duke’s gonna be. I’m gonna get the Duke and John Cassavetes…
(Hey)
and Lee Marvin
(Hey)
and Sam Pekinpah
(Hey)
And a case of Whiskey and drive down to Texas…”
“Four simulataneous bombings takes some planning and preparation and the announcement about London getting the Olympics was just yesterday. I doubt they would have had time to execute this in just 24 hours”
Yeah, but they had longer then 24 hours. Something like this could have been in the planning stage since they were down to the final ten. If they already had prep work done it would take no time to put into play.
I’m not saying that it was 100% about the Olympics. It’s just that there are three options that spring to my mind due to the timing of the thing and that was my number three option. It does make sense in a way since it must have made one hëll of hit to everybody who went to sleep after high fives and cheer and woke up to a terrorist attack in the heart of their homeland. That is the kind of effect that terrorist sometimes shoot for (besides just the death and destruction.)
But I agree that the G8 is the better option. I just won’t rule it out until more info comes out.
To all the people that keep asking about who ever said anything about fighting them there so we wouldn’t have to fight them here:
What deep, dark, news free hole in the ground have you been living in for the last two plus years and was the rent good?
Did we just get incredibly lucky?
Yes.
The Rhetorics of Violence
I do not consider myself a pacifist by any stretch of the imagination, but John McGowan, the webmaster of Michael Berube’s website has posted a very thought-provoking piece (for me anyway). It’s one I’ll have to consider in more detail before I make any comments about it, but it’s one that I think is worth sharing.
An excerpt:
“The weight of our sad times has nearly turned me into a pacifist. I will admit that, finally, pacifism leaves me in a position that I experience as intellectually and emotionally incoherent. But my response to today’s bombings in London is a sickening: “Here we go again.” So I am casting about for some alternative narrative to replace the all too predictable one we are about to reenact.
The rhetoric of response to violence is predicated on understanding violence itself as rhetorical. The terrorists are trying to “send us a message.” Their message is: give up your way of life or we will destroy you. Once their actions are interpreted in this way, the tenor of the response is pre-scripted. As Tony Blair said it today: “We will not allow violence to change our societies and our values.” How we will send our message? By imposing our will on theirs. “We shall prevail and they shall not.” Their initiatory act of violence calls forth our responding acts of violence.
What differentiates our violence from theirs? Three things: 1) our aims are moral; theirs are not; 2) they kill innocent people; we do not; and 3) their actions are “gratuitous”; ours are “necessary.” (Lurking behind all three is the old schoolboy standard: “he started it.”)
Pacifism calls all these familiar rhetorical moves into question. It insists that violence can never be instrumental, that it never simply produces the ends toward which it aims. The effects of violence—on the perpetrator as well as the victim—are incalculable. History suggests that violence is a great destroyer. But it does not create anything. You cannot preserve a way of life through violence; once you take up arms, kiss your old way of life good-bye. The attacks of September 11th did change America—not through what the terrorists did, but through what we did in response.”
‘Scuse me, that’s “Bensonhoist”.
I stand corrected. I should know better, my mother comes from Brooklyn.
Luigi Novi: Of course, technically, we’re all African-Americans
Well, if you go by the bible, & we all come from the Garden Of Eden, which many bibical schlors put somewhere in the Iran / Iraq region, we’re all Persian-Americans
The accent from my island is fairly distinctive.. and less than 200,000 people live there… Anyone familiar with Canada know of Cape Breton?
you by – you (singular)
you by’s – you (plural)
If one’s from my particular hometown, Glace Bay, one is well versed in the butchering of the english language:
Jeet yet?
Naw, joo?
Naw, twirly by.
Good luck decoding it.
Yeah, but they had longer then 24 hours.
Aren’t we forgetting about this little thing called the Chunnel?
And, that with said Chunnel, it is possible to get from Paris to London overnight?
So, while I also think that the G-8 summit is the target, and not the Olympic announcement, anything is possible.
Liam Spencer :
Jeet yet?
Naw, joo?
Naw, twirly by.
“Did you eat yet?”
“No, did you?”
“No, it’s too early.”
(“By” would be “boy”, if I’m not mistaken)
Peter David: Two hundred years ago, people fought and died so we could have the right to be called “Americans” and suddenly everybody’s got to slap on places of descent as if being simply “American” isn’t good enough. And it’s not even ACCURATE. You’ve got people who have two African ancestors a couple centuries ago calling themselves “African-Americans.” Great. My mother came from Palestine on the continent of Asia, so technically I’ve got more reason to call myself an Asian-American than they do African-American, but people would look at me like I’m nuts.
oh my GOD!!!!!!!! i must be turning democrat because i so agree w/ this.
joe v.
That’s the upside of the Southern dialect — we have “y’all” for “you-singular” and “all y’all” for “you-plural”.
I’m more familiar with the Jonathan variant– “y’all” is the plural, with “all y’all” and “some of y’all” used to distinguish an entire audience from subgroupings.
“Y’all” is a very useful word. I use it on purpose now, redneck that I am. (Somehow I have managed to spend more than three quarters of my life in NC and yet I have no discernable accent. I speak General American.)
“(“By” would be “boy”, if I’m not mistaken)”
That’s probably its source, but it’s used as a catch-all now. Women use it to refer to each other.
I’m impressed that you got the rest of it though.
Sleeping days as I do, I didn’t even hear about the London attacks until a couple hours ago. As much as my heart goes out to our brothers and sisters across the pond, I can’t help but be bewildered that it took Shrub about 5 minutes to start talking out of his ášš.
“The war on terror goes on,” Bush said. “I was most impressed by the resolve of all the leaders in the room. Their resolve is as strong as my resolve.”
Plus 20 points for his second sentence, minus a couple hundred for his third. Can the man not even compliment his fellow world leaders without patting himself on the back? And does the man honestly not realize that his “resolve” has gone a long way towards keeping Al-Qaida’s numbers up?
*sigh*
-Rex Hondo-
Heh, a few years back, my dad worked in an office where the most authentic African-American was a white guy (pardon me, caucasian male) from South Africa.
-Rex Hondo-
“Jeet yet?
Naw, joo?
Naw, twirly by.”
Or, a conversation in Redneck (as reported by Jeff Foxworthy):
Jeet yet?
Naw, joo?
Jaunt to?
Aa-ight.
What breaks me up is that people are shouting, “At least the French didn’t win!” You remember the French…the country that helped us win independence from the British.
I’ll tell you, I spent a few days in Paris and the surrounding environs a couple years ago. Despite what you’d expect, everyone was unfailingly polite and, much to my surprise, everyone I encountered supported and appreciated my endeavors to speak in French (as opposed to years ago when they’d quickly switch to English so they didn’t have to hear you mangle their language.)
Plus everyone’s now howling over the French president commenting that Britain’s major contribution to European cuisine has been Mad Cow Disease. First, c’mon…I mean, yeah, MCD is a terrible thing, but give him his due: That’s a funny line. Second, in my life I’ve yet to hear ANYONE say anything positive about British cuisine. In fact, Brits I’ve encountered, here and in the UK, seem to delight in slagging their own food. Naturally I won’t be surprised if this observation prompts a slew of support for British cooking, but that won’t change the fact that the joke didn’t exactly come out of left field.
Maybe I’m less concerned since, be it Britain or France, I won’t be going either way. Then again, I doubt I’d have gone even if it had been in NY, so…
PAD
“Or, a conversation in Redneck (as reported by Jeff Foxworthy):
Jeet yet?
Naw, joo?
Jaunt to?
Aa-ight.”
Why does “Redneck” read like two guys speaking who just had root canal and the novacaine hasn’t worn off.
PAD