Young Writers Society

spaced_out wrote:4. and MAKE HIM\HER FANS OF THE RED SOX!

*snort*

Someone living in Manhattan/New York City would probably be mugged repeatedly for liking the Red Sox.

My mum's from... The Bronx, I think? Meh, she's actually in Philadelphia right now, so I'll ask her for help when she comes home.

-:pirate3:

as for slang...american slang, anyway, there's a TON of it...

PM me the word you need slang terms for and i'm sure...positive...i'd be able to help you...

-GC10

If I were to describe America in one word, I'd say "scattered". But that's totally not a bad thing. I mean, it's a *big* country, geographically, so just from one end to the other, there's a lot of different things just happening all the time. In contrast, I find New York to be a very contained chaos. In the same way (probably just because it's a city), lots of stuff is going on all the time, and it's very busy (hence its tagline "the city that never sleeps"), but it seems more of a centralized thing. Maybe I'm just rambling ^_^


As for sounding American, I don't know if I can sum that up very well, haha. However, the website Nate gave is cool beans for that kind of stuff! If you're stuck on a particular phrase, or something, PM me and I can at least tell you if it sounds natural or not!

NYC surprised me a lot when I went. I did not run into even one of those "brusque NY" types I was supposed to meet. (I met a lot more of those in Italy, actually.) I think the general attitude of NYC is sort of live-and-let-live - few people say "excuse me" when they squeeze past you on the subway, and it's not just because they're jerks, it's because they're trying to get somewhere really really quickly. Likewise, they probably wouldn't mind if you brushed past them without saying excuse me either, because you're probably trying to get somewhere awful quickly as well, and people get that. People are willing to help - if you ask. At the same time, I think people are less nosy in the bigger cities - more to talk about besides the neighbors.

NYC keeps lights on all the time. Especially downtown. Everything, all the buildings are lit up. Huge billboards everywhere, lots of them advertising Broadway shows or concerts.

Buildings are built up rather than out, in most cases.

Also... Yankees. There were Yankees *stores* in NYC when I went.

I don't know many things about Ireland, but I can give you some big, fat general differences between England and the US, having lived in both. A lot of this is probably really obvious, but I'm trying to think of the stuff that my cousins' friends ask about when I've over there. Keep in mind, this is extremely generalized, so some people will probably disagree with me.

On food: In the US, you get free refills on soft drinks (any sodas), iced tea, or water pretty much anywhere. With anything carbonated, unless you ask them not to, the wait staff will probably chuck the glass full of ice before they even start adding any liquid. Actually, people in NYC probably don't call soda "soda," but I'm not cool enough to know what they do call it. Brands of candy are all entirely different from Europe. There are fewer potato-based items. Beans are not a breakfast food. Butter and jam do not go together... in the South, at least. More Mexican restaurants.

Transport: Subway is king in New York. MTA manages the rail systems. You can get pretty much anywhere on them. Also a lot of taxis, and most of them are still yellow, unlike in some other US cities. Lots of people travel on foot, too. There are cars, of course, but with rising gas prices they're probably becoming less and less desirable as a mode of transportation in a city that's so busy.

Music: Dance music is virtually unheard of in the mainstream US charts, excepting one-off artists like Cascada. For every person who listens to electronica or dance music, there is probably someone to make fun of them. Country music is much more prevalent, though this is mostly in the south. Most teens and young professionals probably listen to a blend of rap, r&b, and rock/pop.

Clothes: American women wear dresses less often. More skirts and blouses, or pants/jeans and tops.

Language: This is a toughie. I'd suggest leaving out slang entirely. Not everyone uses it, and it changes so quickly that it's tough to keep up with.

Now, to make some huuuuge generalizations: in general, the US is cheaper, bigger, dirtier, and less aesthetic than Europe. Not that we make ugly stuff, but in general, I think people spend less time trying to make things look nice than the guys across the Atlantic do. Everything is kind of scattered and put together because everyone is in such a rush. That's why everyone takes showers instead of baths. You have to do this and this so that you can pay for this and this. But I suppose its like that anywhere in the world.

I can describe America in two words: "Raving loonies."

The US is such a deverse melting pot, it's difficult to determine all the slang from state to state. I live in Northern Vermont so I'm very close to the borders of NY and Quebec, Canada. As for slang here in the Hills, anyone that's lived here for any length of time typically do not say their "T's." So I live in Vermon'. throat becomes taut, cutting off the last letter. The original mountain slang, though a dieing one now, was something like this: "It's Fri-doy ni'oght."

Northern Vermonters favor the Sox. Yay! Go Sox! Southern Vermonters tend to favor the freakin' Yankees... And yes, a New Yorker, especially from the city, would be shot point blank if they were a Sox fan. Guarenteed they'd be mugged repeatedly for daring to shout in public, "I love the Red Sox!"

I’ve lived in the U.S. all my life and used to live in New York City (specifically Flatbush, Brooklyn.)

About the whole fast-paced thing: That’s definitely true in most of Manhattan, but not in every neighborhood of New York. In my neighborhood it was totally the opposite; everyone seemed relaxed, and was always sitting on their porch drinking beers in the middle of the day and such. But if your story takes place in downtown Manhattan, then yeah, it is fast-paced and looks the way it does on TV: a whole ton of people, a lot of them in business suits, walking like they’re in a hurry.

Oh, and it's always loud, day or night. Cars, sirens, voices, fireworks. (A suprising amount of fireworks, at least in my neighborhood. One time the butt of one flew right into my window. And we were all sitting on the windowsills because we didn't have working chairs, so it must have flown right past somebody's head.)

One great thing about New York is that you can get from anywhere in the city to anywhere else in the city no matter what time it is, without a car. (In fact, you don’t want a car—traffic sucks and most people are not great drivers. And one thing I noticed is that they honk all the time. It’s seriously non-stop honking, I have no idea why.) You usually use the subway more than the buses. (I only rode the bus a couple times.) I think taxis are more for the rich people than for normal people, because the subway gets you anywhere fast enough. I think people who take cabs generally do so because their time is valuable—if they can be working in the back of the cab and they make a TON of money, then it makes more sense for them. When I lived there I only rode a taxi three times: to and from the airport, and once when one of my roommates and I were drunk and he insisted we take one to the subway station, so as not to get lost.

When I write about New York I am very specific about streets and neighborhoods and subways, but I guess you don’t have to be.

One thing I should add that I don’t think anyone else has mentioned: A LOT of the people in New York are from other countries. My neighborhood was mostly Caribbean, but it totally varies by the neighborhood. But yeah it is not at all weird to be walking anywhere in New York and hear a ton of people talking in different languages. One time I was wandering down the shore of Brooklyn looking for a job, and became very confused when the people I started asking seemed unable to understand me. Then I realized I’d wandered from Coney Island into Little Russia.

Oh, and another thing—the people in New York, in general, are unattractive. This is probably partially because I moved there from southern California, but yeah, not a lot of good-looking people in NY.

Also—it is very difficult to find good pizza and bagels outside of New York (the city and its surrounding areas—upstate is not included) and New Jersey.

I had a roommate who was from Ireland so I’ll try to remember the differences he pointed out. Surprisingly, he complained about the food. He said the sandwiches were too small, that bread was apparently larger than Ireland? He also complained about the fact that we have dollar bills. Personally, I like dollar bills. Who wants to carry around a ton of change? But he and my roommate from England both thought it was annoying to have a lot of bills and think you have a lot of money, and then realize you don’t because they’re all ones. Also, he said there were way more bars in Ireland (in his town I believe there was a bar per every thirty people). Not that there aren’t a decent amount of bars around New York. (But in Manhattan they’re really expensive—in my opinion the best place to bar-hop is Fifth Avenue, Brooklyn. Tons of bars and they’re decently priced.)

Read this:

http://www.pbs.org/speak/seatosea/ameri ... wyorkcity/

It’s about the differences in how New Yorkers communicate and it’s spot on.

They also talk a lot faster.

Yeah, I think that goes for cities all over (as opposed to the country). I was living in a small town in the Colorado rockies for the last couple months and I certainly talk quite a bit faster than the people there.

On the other hand, in the last several years, from everything I know, it’s become one of the friendliest cities of its size.

Yeah, I think the whole New-Yorkers-are-rude thing is for the most part a myth. I lived there in 2006 and the people were WAY friendlier than the people I was used to (I’m from California…the kind of state where you don’t know the names of your neighbors.) In New York, people start talking to you in the street. (This happens in Manhattan too but even more in Brooklyn.)

One thing I know city NYers use is ‘Yuz guys’ and ‘Juw’ for ‘You’

I don’t remember noticing this in NYC, thought it was more of a Buffalo thing.

and MAKE HIM\HER FANS OF THE RED SOX!

I’m sure this was a joke. It’d be either Yankees (based in the Bronx) or Mets (based in Queens). The Yankees and the Red Sox have a rivalry.

I kind of doubt many people wear uncomfortable shoes like heels, since they walk so much. They probably just carry them to change into in they have to, and wear sneakers.

Nah, if I remember correctly a lot of the girls were quite dressed up, shoes included. And they all seemed to have their nails done. I've noticed that even in the neighborhoods where the guys were dressed ghetto, the girls were still usually dressed up.

there’s lots of places to eat. Stores everywhere. Not much green. Not much space in between people. Houses are close together, apartments common.

This is all true except for “not much green,” because there are a lot of parks.

It is impossible to own a traditional house in Manhattan. You have a condo or you have an apartment. In all parts of New York (except maybe Staten Island, which in my opinion is way too suburban to even be part of the city, but it is) there are a lot of brownstones and rowhouses. In Brooklyn there were a lot of projects, not so much in Manhattan.

One thing to remember if you watch Friends…In real life they would never be able to afford apartments that nice. Rent is crazily high in Manhattan, especially in a nice neighborhood like the West Village (which is where Friends takes place).

Actually, people in NYC probably don’t call soda “soda,” but I’m not cool enough to know what they do call it.

Nah, they call it soda. There are many parts of the U.S. where they call it “pop” (Washington, the South, and Minnesota, among others) like people do in Canada, but New York’s not one of those places.

Country music is much more prevalent, though this is mostly in the south.

Yeah, not in NYC. It’s mostly rap, hiphop, etc. Probably rock depending on the neighborhood. And in mine there was a lot of reggae, but that was because it was a Jamaican neighborhood, so that definitely couldn’t be generalized to all of New York.

Make them wear Yankees hats and yell out of the cars during a gridlock. Tons of bad driving. New Yorkers are pretty aware too, they are not the easiest people to scam. They also very fast paced they walk fast and hate when someone wastes their time.