NP | ZK translation: on line for tickets

[Becky Lindroos]

Thanks,  Ish  -  DeLillo is about as native New Yorker as they come.    Real language is always shifting.   Funny  “jerry-before-seinfeld”  sketch. 


Becky
https://beckylindroos.wordpress.com

> On Nov 12, 2017, at 3:15 AM, ish mailian <ishmailian at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Not all but most Native speakers of New York English say "on line" and
> not "in line" to describe what the English do when they form a queue
> or queue up.
> 
> Of course, in NYC you may also hear "line up", "wait in line", "form a
> line", "fall in", and even "we queued for tickets", not to mention
> whatever people say in dozens of other languages.
> 
> This NYC geographical use (on line) may be shifting now because, as
> Becky points out, "on line" and "on line" are used to describe a
> connection to the internet.
> 
> Is the speaker a native New Yorker? Did he read Green Eggs and Ham?
> 
> So we moved out from the city
> to on Long Island.
> You don't live in Long Island,
> you live on Long Island.
> When you live in the city,
> people ask you, "Where do you live?"
> you go, "We live in the city."
> You don't live on the city.
> [laughter]
> But if you move out of the city...
> You're in it now. Now if you go out,
> you're going to be on the island.
> [laughter]
> Long Island's
> not one of those places you...
> You can't get in it. There's nothing...
> There's nothing to get in.
> You just stay on it.
> [laughter]
> My parents would say, "Jerry, we're going
> to the city today, so get ready.
> We're going in."
> "We're going to get on the train."
> We don't get in the train.
> You get on the train,
> even though you see trains,
> there's nobody on it.
> You never see anybody on top of a train.
> But that's how you talk. If you want
> to live here, this is how you talk.
> "We're going to get on the train."
> Why do you get on the train?
> Why?
> So you can get off it!
> "Get off the train!
> This is our stop!"
> [laughter]
> "We've got to get in the cab."
> You don't get on the cab.
> You were on the train,
> but you don't get on the cab.
> You get in the cab.
> Why do you get in the cab?
> So you can get out!
> "You've got to get out of the...
> We're here.
> Get out of the cab. We're here."
> "Why are you still in the cab?
> Get out of the cab."
> [laughter]
> "OK, Jerry, what about Uber?
> What do you do with Uber?"
> That's the new thing.
> Do you get in it? No.
> On it? No.
> Off it? No.
> What do you do with Uber?
> - [man] You grab it.
> - [man] You get one.
> No. No.
> [woman] You just take it.
> You take it! You take Uber!
> [laughter]
> 
> from "jerry-before-seinfeld"
> 
> On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 7:27 PM, Mike Jing
> <gravitys.rainbow.cn at gmail.com> wrote:
>> P207.16-19   He is a man on line for tickets to a ballet that a woman wants
>> to see and he is willing to wait for hours while she tends her
>> schoolchildren. She is the woman, rigid in her seat, watching a dancer
>> splice the air, fingertips to toes.
>> 
>> What does "on line for tickets" mean?
>> 
> -
> Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l

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Pynchon-l / http://www.waste.org/mail/?list=pynchon-l