USA > New York > New York City > New York panorama : a comprehensive view of the metropolis > Part 16
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To assist the thousands of southern migrants coming into the city, and make investigations into social conditions among Negroes, the National rban League was organized in 1911. Under its auspices many of the ver egro professional social workers in New York have received their train- uffg; and through its Industrial Department it has aided thousands of un- billed Negroes to equip themselves with trades. More than any other social lagency, the League has fought for a better community life among Negroes, foletter housing conditions, and against crime, disease and unemployment. th s official organ, Opportunity Magazine, edited by Elmer A. Carter, inter- rets the changing social and economic scene for the American Negro. asthe New York Urban League was organized in 1918 as a separate and dis- ge! iod n nct branch of the national League. Besides maintaining a playground and summer camp for Negro children, it has helped to form and guide sev- cal WPA projects. The League has emphasized its fundamental concern securing better working conditions for Negroes, exposing unfair labor ractices, fostering unionism and aiding in the education of workers in ne lower and unskilled ranks.
The youngest and largest of the mass organizations devoted to the social, conomic and political equality of the Negro is the National Negro Con-
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150 NEGROES
gress, a federation of Negro organizations which attempts to unify t activities of all groups, particularly trade unions. The Congress is wide scope and purpose, and active in the prosecution of its aims. It has he two national meetings, one in Chicago in 1935, the other in Philadelph in 1937.
Since the founding of the New York African Society for Mutual Reli more than a hundred years ago, Negro fraternal societies have increas so rapidly that they now comprise the greater number of organizatio among the Negroes of Harlem. They are motivated by the need for mutu aid and companionship. There are Negro Elk, Odd Fellow, Mason, Pyt ian, Woodmen and Philomathean lodges, whose large membership mak possible the maintenance of mountain homes, bands, athletic leagues ai summer camps, along with various other activities.
The Young Men's and Women's Christian Associations in Harlem diff little from the white Associations throughout the country. They are cu tural centers, meeting places, educational institutions, as well as cente for sports and recreation. The buildings of both organizations were bu recently and are imposing structures, designed to serve the manifold i terests of thousands of youths and adults. The forums and debates he here often emphasize the economic plight of the Negro.
Perhaps the strongest of Negro organizations in Harlem are the trad unions. The Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, with a national mer bership of more than 6,000, maintains elaborate headquarters under th leadership of its president, A. Philip Randolph. In 1929 the Brotherhoc affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, and in 1936 it was a corded an international charter. Since the depression and the inception ( the Committee for Industrial Organization, there is hardly a trade or pr fession in Harlem that is not organized. Barbers, clerks, laundry worker newspapermen, bartenders, teachers and domestic workers have all forme unions for mutual protection. Most of these unions are affiliated with th Negro Labor Committee, a representative central body that gives commo guidance to Harlem's trade union activities. The problems of the unen ployed are dealt with chiefly through the Workers' Alliance, which mair tains several branches in this area.
Harlem is the home of one of the outstanding units of the New Yor National Guard, the 369th Infantry, organized in 1913 as the 15th Reg ment of State militia. These Negro troops were under fire for 191 day on the western front during the World War, and were the first Amer cans to reach the Rhine. On December 13, 1918, they received from th
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PORTRAIT OF HARLEM 15I
ench Government a collective citation for conspicuous valor, and the roix de Guerre was pinned to the regimental colors.
The question of what will ultimately happen to the Negro in New York bound up with the question of what will happen to the Negro in Amer- a. It has been said that the Negro embodies the "romance of American fe"; if that is true, the romance is one whose glamor is overlaid with hadows of tragic premonition.
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VI. SPEECH
The Local Vernacular
PRODUCT of scores of nationalities, thousands of occupations and mil lions of people in necessary and constant contact, of whom some nev leave the city while others come and go in a day, the New York la guage reflects every facet of a multifarious environment: the clatter riveting-guns, the sighs of the weary, the shrill warnings of policemen whistles, the sunny chatter of perambulating nursemaids, the jittery lac nisms of waiters, countermen, cabbies, musicians, busboys on the run, do tors, lawyers, nurses, thieves and radio entertainers. To suggest the quali of this ever-bubbling linguistic amalgam and to give some indication ( its hows and whys is the intention of this brief survey. A few of the mo representative words and phrases have been selected as examples in ead category.
At the outset the reader should be assured that the New York languag is no strange cacophony of foreign tongues intelligible to trained linguis only. Full of Americanisms now standardized by wide currency (nert baloney, in your hat, wise guy, etc. ), and containing expressions whid originated in other sections of the country (yippee, yowzuh, you be- whoopee, etc. ), the town's talk reflects the alertness of its writers, ente tainers and everyday folk in picking up colorful new expressions irrespe tive of origin. Foreign influences emanating from the last half century great immigration streams seem definitely on the wane, judging by th 1930 census, which places nearly two-thirds of the total white popul tion in the native-born column. Furthermore, according to the best authorE ties, the presumable importance of the foreign influence on language it New York has been neither well established nor accurately measured.
Professors William Cabell Greet of Columbia University, Margaret Schlauch of New York University and Robert Sonkin and David Drisco of Brooklyn College all agree as to the difficulty of placing definite carry over tendencies in the speech of recorded subjects, though Driscoll poin out the emphasized articulation of the so-called "dental consonants"-
152
1
I53
THE LOCAL VERNACULAR
I," "ts," "z," "sh," "ch" and "n"-as indicating foreign influence. But ice phonetics as the study of speech-sounds bears a somewhat ambigu- is relation to semantics as the study of word-meanings we may mini- ize this evidence, especially if we grant that language as communication- ativity reflects, in its way, the total environment of which it is a part. ost of the existing foreign language influences, among which Yiddish robably ranks first in the number of carryovers, have been more or less oroughly assimilated. Witness kosher (literally, sanctioned by Jewish w, but extended to mean genuine, straight goods, the real McCoy; a ght gee or guy) ; kibitzer (an unwelcome adviser, one who intrudes) ; ikse (a Gentile girl) ; schnorrer (a beggar, also a haggler over small ings, a picayune chiseler) ; schlemiel (a gentle fool) ; schmegeggie (a upid person) ; nebach (term of condescending affection for a weakling) ; iker (a drunkard ) ; mazuma (money, the dough, the chips ) ; meshuggah crazy ) ; pfui (an exclamation of disgust or contempt) ; schlepper (a poor ob, also a customer who doesn't buy) ; kishkes (literally intestines, tripe, ut expanded to the Hemingway sense of guts, basic courage) and maz- iltov (congratulations, best wishes ).
The League of Nations vocabulary of food-shaslik (segments of lamb roiled on a skewer, Russian style, sometimes with vegetables ) ; blintzes fried rolls containing cheese or meat, etc.) ; bouillabaisse (the fish chow- er of Marseilles ) ; ravioli (small flat dumplings filled with chopped meat r sausage) ; smörgasbord (Swedish hors d'oeuvres)-has long been a hid art of the city's cosmopolitan language. Idiomatic expressions of foreign belerivation, such as the droll He should have stood in bed (it would have nter® een better for him if he had never got into this situation) and the horta- pedory Poosh 'em opp! (a call to action in the sense of Get going! Get ryolling! Let's see you go in there now!), are definitely limited in usage.
thy If we align the 1933 U. S. Census Bureau estimate of population (7,- ula 54,300) with figures for the combined average circulation of the city's oriEnglish-language newspapers for the six-months' period ending Septem- iber 30, 1935 (weekday, 4,663,283; Sunday, 5,862,823), we shall get ome indication of the heat turned on under the melting pot of speech. refrains, buses, automobiles and planes have telescoped the wide-open 0 paces, so that people from all regions of the country now come to New WYork and leave their impress. It is estimated that no fewer than 50 million persons visit New York yearly. No longer a shining city of the East much discussed but seldom experienced by the average American, New York
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154 SPEECH
may impress him as provincial, despite its size and "style"; but he is like o to find it "different" rather than foreign. P
The New York language, then, is no babel of patchwork patois; neithea. can it be considered a well-established body of jargon, slang and varie colloquialisms fitting into a loose but rather recognizable syntax, lil'jit the special dialects of the American South and West. The character (fee language in any given region is related to the education, hereditary bacljut ground, occupations and economic status of the people of that regior generally speaking, in the South and West language has become standardo ized to some extent because the factors mentioned have been relative. pegged by the given elements of development. For example, Burke an Jefferson Counties in Georgia, adjacent to each other as are Manhattan and the Bronx, have a population which speaks a language distinct illo color and idiom but which has varied little in decades; whereas in Ne 4 York, an environment subject to innumerable factors in a flux of constar change, it is entirely possible to ask "Where are you going?" one instartto and "Whe' yuh goin'?" the next, without the slightest trace of selo consciousness in either case, depending upon the auditor and the urgence of the moment.
"The Big City rhythm" has been dealt with in the movies, radio, bool and magazines, but the fact remains that everything which has been told lu no more than a pale suggestion of the dominant moods of the town, th" qualities that place it by itself in the world: the whirling, driving templ of existence, the efforts to relax within the battle to exist, the compln cated individual adjustments to myriad personal relationships and to the whole process of the living city. But make no mistake, the average Nel, Yorker loves the town. Though he may never have been to the Aquariuno or climbed the insides of the Statue of Liberty, it's his town for better ciot worse. Never does he consider the permanent possibility of renouncing the subway or wearing a gas mask against the traffic-generated monoxid" fumes. Hand him a deed to a hundred acres in the country and more thanh likely he will return it with: "What? No Hubbell-Mungo Sunday duelsha No ice hockey? No Monday Winchell column on Sunday night?"
Swift tempo, high pressure, more retail sales each year, more per capit! sales, nearly eighty-one millions spent for amusement in 1935, more tha 656,000 registered passenger automobiles, close to half a billion dollar a year in wages (excluding salaried employees), hotels taking in nearlo sixty-five millions yearly, value of produced goods close to three billion yearly-is it any wonder that the language of the city should project ter
I55
THE LOCAL VERNACULAR
s likeon and release epigrammatic terseness when the economic machinery erates, and slacken to a grateful legato when night comes and one pre- neitheures for another day?
varie Unless it's out! Out to theater, recital, movie or nickelodeon, mingling , lilith the gay Broadway or Second Avenue or Grand Concourse or Four- ter denth Street or Coney Island crowds. Then, if the mood is strong and the badirse not too light, on to the downbeat (the accented basic rhythm of hot egio usic) at the Onyx, the intimate Caliente, the Roseland and Savoy ball- ndardoms, the sepia Uptown House, Childs-and never mind tomorrow, here is!
Yet to presume on the part of first-time visitors a total ignorance of the etropolitan argot would be incorrect. The movies (Three Men on a orse, Lady for a Day, Little Miss Marker, etc. ) ; radio (Harry Hershfield, ang Busters, Walter Winchell, Manhattan Moods, etc.) ; the "funnies" nsta Moon Mullins, Popeye the Sailor, Barney Google, Grossly X-aggerated, nsta self c.); the syndicated columns (Winchell's On Broadway, Sobol's The oice of Broadway, Beebe's This New York, Lyons Den, etc. ) ; the maga- gendnes (The New Yorker, Variety, Time, etc. ) ; and books (Guys and Dolls, odies Are Dust, Brain Guy, Thunder Over the Bronx, The Thin Man, bookbutterfield 8, I Can Get It for You Wholesale, etc. ) have certainly intro- oldiced the "New York style" into the contemporary national culture. . th Tithin these media the Dorgans, Conways, Lardners, Winchells, Baers, empl'Haras, Kobers, Durantes and Runyons have given the nation scram, lay mplsz egg, palooka, belly-laugh, Reno-vate, yes we have no bananas, twenty- o thbree skiddoo, Alcoholiday, Park Rowgue, wisecrack, applesauce, you said Nevy, hard-boiled, pushover, click, laugh that off, yes-man, middle-aisling it, riumcko, step on the gas, kiss the canvas, throw in the sponge and many ter others. Our slang-makers may be separated into two classes: those who ncinsten and repeat, and those who simply sit down, concentrate and create. oxid mong the latter are Dorgan ("Tad" of fond memory), Jack Conway and thathe practically inimitable Winchell, well on his way to becoming the uels ation's official chronicler of Things About Somebodies That Everybody Tever Even Dreamed Of. Among the efficient leg-and-ear men, class John apita'Hara, Damon Runyon, Leonard Lyons and the late Ring Lardner.
than, Inoculated with these influences, the out-of-towner may be able to trans- llarțite the following: "Pipe the pushover, he thinks he's a click with his doll earljecause she told him she'd lohengrin and bear it, but all she wants is a iliogcand-in to pinch hit for the last heart, who lost all his what-it-takes in an ten nder-the-bridge-at-midnite payoff." But to conclude that New Yorkers
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156
SPEECH
converse in this cryptic manner would be contrary to fact. The truth is th the average talk of the town is more of an attitude than a vocabulary. TH same person who puts your breakfast on the table and remarks, "I hof everything is to your taste, sir," may, after receiving a lavish tip, say to th headwaiter, "Keep a gander on the visiting fireman with the ice on h cuffs, he's out to make a flash," or perhaps simply, "The guy in the corn just held up a bank."
Similarly, a girl or bimbo may be perfect or the business, may maneuve or play for a break, be cheated or gypped, unbalanced or screwy, have nose or schnozzle, become angry or griped, be informed or know h. onions, leave quietly or take a run-out powder, gamble everything or shot the works, and be a nuisance or a stiff pain.
Also one may buy on credit or be cuffed, ask permission to leave or su a man about a dog, engineer a difficult coup or pull a fast one; and, wit no malice whatsoever, one may be told that he takes it in the arm (e: aggerates), is cockeyed (fantastically in error), and that he'd better n get his bowels in an uproar (excited). Heard each day are countle similar expressions, some going strong after years of usage (you said mouthful), others quickly discarded (ish kabibble, so's your old man H. L. Mencken believes that span of usage depends somewhat upon th logical content. This is borne out by observing the relationship betwee logical content and flexibility of use. Go peddle your papers is colorfu clear and refers to a precarious, generally humble function of city life; an since its basic sense is universally understood, it lends itself to mar nuances of meaning, depending on the individual who uses it, and : whom. It may mean go away; be a good fellow and leave; go away befor you get hurt; mind your own business, you lug (or sweetheart) ; or lear us alone, can't you see we're busy? And in the case of the universal o yeah? we have an expression wherein the logical content is no less powe ful for being somewhat subtle. It reflects an attitude toward the city's lif processes-the good-humored cynical reproach, the brief signal of fran disbelief, the useful beats of stalling in the rhythm of a situation, th projection of the speaker's hope, disgust, anger, love, philosophy, politi or unqualified withdrawal. In his routine chatter, the New Yorker cann get along without his oh yeah? It is his most valuable buffer, knou pacifier and bubble-pipe, a necessary protective lubricant in the daily wea and tear.
Of late a humorously conceived system of language corruption calle double talk or talking on the double has made itself felt. Its function is t
I57
THE LOCAL VERNACULAR
duce or rib the unknowing listener into believing that he is either deaf, (norant or ready for a lifetime run in the part of Napoleon. Double talk created by mixing plausible-sounding gibberish into ordinary conversa- on, the speaker keeping a straight face or dead pan and enunciating usually or of the cuff. If he is a true practitioner of this insane craft he ill always speak with a slight mumble; and it is no wonder that this olk-variation of Gertrude Stein should manifest itself in theatrical and ugilistic circles, where the ability to master an intelligible yet sotto voce tumble is considered a prerequisite of the trade. Among the leading ex- onents of this mad jargon, which Clem White, ice-hockey promoter, haracterizes as "the quickest way to poison your mind," are Lou Raymond, Whitey Bimstein, Phatzo Zuckerman, Hymie Caplin, the Ritz Brothers and fushky Jackson.
Observe in this sample of Mr. Hymie Caplin's double talk the creation f gibberish having a distinctly "sensible" sound, and the ingenuity with which it is woven into the entire melody line: "Well, take now you're in restaurant. So you say to the waiter, 'Gimme the chicken and vegetables ut portostat with the chicken with the fustatis on it.' So he says 'What?' nd you say 'You know, the portostat, and moonsign the savina on the op, with the vegetables.' " Note also the bizarre sympathy of Mr. Whitey Bimstein in conversation with a defeated pugilist: "Sure ya got pressed in he third, kid. You done all right, but your trouble is ya fonnastat when ou go forward with your left hand. That's a pretty bad fault. All ya have o learn is ya come forward when ya fest 'em up on the referee with the ld sedda m'credda."
Delectable though it may be, double talk is surpassed as the crowning ontribution to the fantasy of the New York language by the verbal nug- rets of Jimmy Durante of the East Side, Coney Island, Broadway, Holly- vood, London "and all pernts to a disasterous season." His prodigious vitality, boisterous pseudo-arrogance and unabated cosmic self-affirmation tre startlingly projected in the documentation of his categorical imperatives ind in the frothy rhythms of his strange, valid furies. His It's mutiny! and Am I mortified! are best known to the nation, but no catalogue of Durante- isms can suggest the hysterical tension he brings to a situation and the overbounding exaggeration he gives to its essential quality. His famous nose-large, acute, and shrewd-is but an extension of his heart.
"I get you!" he will shout. "A story on Jimmy the Man! A story on Jimmy the Human Bein'! The idea is terrific! It's marvelous! It's dyna- mite!" Or on the melancholy of fame: "Many's the time I'd like to go
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158
SPEECH
into the Automat for a cuppa coffee. But I can't do it. They would re onize me. I'd be mobbed. I can't disguise my probiscuity ! Jimmy the Ma Jimmy the Human Bein'!"
Once, as Michael Mok relates in the New York Post, Jimmy noticed extremely thin and anemic little man wearing a tiny feather in his ha band. At his side walked a very tall and very stout woman. Jimmy's 1 action was instantaneous, explosive and complete: "Lookit! Lookit! mountain climber! Intrepid! Intrepid !"
Only a New York could have produced a Durante, for in New Yo of all places one can appreciate the comic aspects of widely disparate i dividuals forced to try to understand each other. This is a result of tl social cosmopolitanism of the town, made necessary by its complex soci mil economic relationships. Jimmy the Well-Dressed Man is its comic symbo mai its Fantasia No. I, and those pricked by his linguistic darts laugh th loudest.
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These words-patterns are an accurate reflection of the exciting ar. do HEas heterogeneous life of New York. The complexity of the economic pro ess produces super-specialization in occupations, many of which crea their own jargons. In them are to be found the "typical" elements whic an co &be energize the language as a whole. Scores of these jargons exist. Just as would be impossible for the tourist to encounter them all in one visit, : is it impossible in the short space of this article to give more than a fer brief samples.
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In using taxicabs the visitor will do well to keep his ears open, for th talk of the backies brims with imagination based on an extreme sense c, reality. Evidence of the heavy pressure of their work, the epigrammati nature of their patter is traceable to the necessity for quick, succinct lar guage. Pausing at the red light, they will shout to each other. "Hey, hoopl [a hackie working on a 24-hour stretch], howza clock on 'at stone crusher?" (what's the meter-reading on that cab with the knockin motor? ). The answer may be: "It's the ice-breaker {his first fare that day } see you on the show-break" (time when the theaters discharge their audi ences, but also an expression meaning "au revoir").
Should the visitor be fortunate enough to receive special permission, h may attend the morning lineup at Police Headquarters, where person picked up during the previous day are brought for examination before and audience of detectives and plainclothes men. He will hear more strang talk in an hour than he can possibly remember. The bad actors may include youngsters up for their first rap (sentence) for crashing a joint (burglary)
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THE LOCAL VERNACULAR
ons (convicts ) caught after lamming a joint (escaping from the scene of crime) or crashing the stir (escaping from jail) ; shady shonnikers pawnbrokers ), sleek valentinos (young men kept by older women), and erhaps a stolid chopper (machine-gunner) on his way to the hot seat electric chair) or extradition to a State where convicted killers do a dance are hanged ) rather than burn (are electrocuted).
In cafeterias, diners, lunchettes and luncheonettes the cries of counter- hen repeating orders to the chefs will prove amusing to the out-of-towner. taples surviving the introduction of microphones include nervous pud- ing for Jello; burn the British or toasted Wally for a toasted English huffin; smear one, burn it for a toasted cheese sandwich; bottle o' red or catsup; one to go for an order to be taken out; one cow for a glass of nilk; stretch it for a large glass; burn one with a feather for a chocolate halted milk with an egg in it; and the strident eighty-six, a warning to he cashier that a customer is trying to leave without paying his check.
Radio has introduced many new expressions into the national language. Easily recognizable are hog the mike, wanna buy a duck?, check and louble-check, are ya listenin'?, ether and theme song. Equally colorful is n inside (professional) lingo which employs killie loo bird for a flighty coloratura, old sexton for a bass with a sepulchral voice, talking in his beard for a muffled voice, fax for facilities, town crier for one who sings oo loud, fighting the music for lack of ease in singing, down in the mud or very low reproduction volume, line hits for occasional chirps on trans- nission circuits, fizzy for an unclear voice, fuzzy for an unclear program, ind on the nose for ending a program on schedule to the second.
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