Has New York become Nazi, USA?

New York City never ceases to amaze me. Not only does it constantly keep you on your toes, many times the city carries an acute sense of dismay. Case in point: Back in November 24, 2015, I was confronted with a strange sight while riding the shuttle from Grand Central to Times Squares. To my horror, the shuttle cars were emblazoned with the Iron Cross associated with Nazi Germany, plus a modified Rising Sun emblem of Imperial Japan - even the benches were plastered with it. Whoever thought we would ever see part of the MTA covered in fascist iconography? Certainly not I. What a wake-up call!

Poster of The Man In The High Castle: An Amazon Original Film

The MTA shuttle cars in Times Square covered with Nazi related propaganda

 Appalling: Is this Times Square, or Nazi, Germany?
Imagine the controversy, and the rampant conversations among New Yorkers traveling that day as they witnessed a series of heavy promotions from Amazon which depicts a Nazi, and Imperial Japan winning World War II from The Man In The High Castle. The vivid imagery illustrated an Axis Powers-ruling America. The advertisements were plastered all over subway stations, in and out of subway cars. The whole thing was simply awful. 

Wake up call!

Bill de Basio, New York City's mayor, fortunately acted swiftly by ordering the posters to be removed from all of the city’s subways, in all locations. The fact that this even took place in a large city? Well, only in New York.

I lived about 5 minutes away form this spot in Putney, England.

The whole incident was so powerful, and it took my mind back to my childhood. Growing up in London, I was often told by my mother not to play in or around the "bombed-out-houses" in the neighborhood, with good reason, mind you. Those houses, in most cases had unexploded devises inside them, and as you know, children do stupid things. I can recall that even after several warnings from our parents, we still went out, and played our war games in and around those very same buildings!

 Children in London playing in and around a bombed-out-house, circa 1940s

"What shall we do now that we have no place to play?"
One and half million Londoners were bombed out of their homes between September 1940 and May 1941. It was only in the late 1950s before most of these homes were rebuilt. The memories of the after effects of Nazi, Germany is not something we should glorify, and exploit, even for artistic purposes.

Harsh voices of New York

Michael S. McConkey

On my first visit to New York over 30 years ago, the first thing to hit me over the head was a New Yorker's accent, and I quickly turned down the volume of my hearing aid! I can remember this as if it was yesterday. I landed at JFK airport and we where boarding on to a bus to take us to the terminal. The driver shouted to us all "get in the *#@!&^% bus". To this day, I do believe he was trying to get all 300 passengers into a 50 seater bus.

I bring this up because lately I've been reading about a study which showed that gravely and harsh voices of true New Yorkers are being toned down as younger generations leaving the language of their forefathers behind. Interesting. I did not know that the changing landscape of New York has long been lambasted by historic preservationists and those that are nostalgic for the days of yore. Over the years, I too have observed that gravely and harsh voices of true New Yorkers are being toned down by younger generations - either purposefully or subconsciously. 

Some “Brits” still believe that the Big Apple isn’t so much a place as a sound (whenever I’m on the phone, my friends can hear the sirens in the background (only in New York), for example, the Barbara Streisand's accent, the mob bosses of The Sopranos, and the way all the locals say fuhgeddaboudit. 

The New York accent- noted for its irregular usage of the consonant R and over-emphasized AH sounds- comes along  with a number of connotations related to a darker New York.

1940s-era James Cagney

The mental picture of a 1940s-era New York City comes to mind, where jazz salons were home to gin-swilling gangsters. Or more recently, the pre-Giuliani New York where people were afraid to be out in Central Park after dark. The rude, quick-talking big-city dwellers that are so often portrayed in films and television shows has led to the idea that New Yorkers are cold, and sometimes harsh. My Cousin Vinny, The Godfather, and Goodfellas are only some of the iconic mobster movies set in New York. One Sunday I visited a restaurant in Little Italy and it was like walking into the film set of the The Godfather, ‘no kidding I lift a big tip’.

Woody Allen

Criminal masterminds are not the only ones associated with the accent. Woody Allen’s neurotic comedy and nasal voice is closely associated with the city and he has based many of his films both in and on the recognizable city. (By the way, over the years, both Vyna and I have bumped into Woody Allen on a number of occasions, while walking in the streets of Manhattan). Here are some words typically spoken by New Yorkers. Practice these before coming to the city.

English or New York English

• New York: 'Noo Yawk'
• car: 'cah' 
• coffee: 'cawfee' 
• Long Island: 'Lawn Gyland' 
• thirty-third: 'toity toid' 
• butter: 'budah' 
• out of here: 'outta hee'

Ian Fleming, the creator of James Bond once said "You can get far in North America with laconic grunts. ‘Huh,’ ‘hun,’ and ‘hi!’ in their various modulations, together with ‘sure,’ ‘guess so,’ ‘that so?’ and ‘nuts!’ will meet almost any contingency. Let me just finish with one of my favorite quotes from the film Look Who’s Talking, “How do you like New York so far?” “Hey, it’s my kinda town.”

Frank Sinatra