Making fun of New York

 

Since I have poked quite a bit of fun at Sydney and Australia I would like to point out that I have spent a lot of time poking fun of New York and the Unites States.  This has been known to some of my friends and colleagues for some time and now, to the chagrin of some, I am publishing my “findings”.  I have been collecting words and phrases for some time and occasionally sharing selections, now I share them with all of you.

 

Advertisements

As always Madison Avenue and its lesser colleagues throughout the industry are a source of humor.

 

Malapropisms

Some of these quotations are not properly malapropisms as the speaker spoke the words properly but the words were mis-heard.  Others aren’t malapropisms because the person (Adam) didn’t mean to say them like that!

 

Overheard

Yes, I’m that annoying person at the next table with the pen and paper.  I might even be the person at your table doing that.

 

The Press

For some reason I hold the Press to a higher standard than the mere spoken word.  That would probably be because they have copy editors and are in the profession of communicating.  But aside from that …

 

Signs

I think that signs are one of the most fertile areas for inadvertent humor.  And because they are there for a while they have time to grow on you.

 

Words

These words have been harvested from books and periodicals.  Multiple word combinations were are presented as found.  None of these were my own coinage but I only started recording attributions recently.  I have separated them into sections.  Some are puns, some were misheard, some are evocative, and some simply sound good when said out loud.

 

Written

These are quotations I found and have liked.

 

This page is copyright 2003, Laura Giletti

Last revised: October 2003