New York's boldest
Athel Cornish-Bowden
Island: "the home of New York's boldest". How is the word "boldest"
understood in the USA? It suggests to me the people who committed
particularly bold crimes before they were sent there (and they're the
only ones who can really call it home), but that seems unlikely to be
the intended meaning. It wouldn't have occurred to me that employment
as a prison officer implied a high degree of boldness.
--
athel
Horace LaBadie
Athel Cornish-Bowden <acor...@ifr88.cnrs-mrs.fr> wrote:
It's a play on the phrase, "New York's Finest," referring to the police
department, and, as such, doesn't need much justification. It means the
Corrections Officers in general.
And it's Rikers Island, named after Ryckers, the man who owned it.
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
It is a nickname for New York City Correction Officers.
http://www.nyc.gov/html/doc/html/news/National_Ceremony_05_10_11.pdf
Perhaps they didn't want to be outnamed by NYPD, New York's Finest:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/html/home/home.shtml
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
musika
Peter Duncanson (BrE) <ma...@peterduncanson.net> typed:
The best that money can buy.
--
Ray
UK
Jerry Friedman
wrote:
According to the stereotypes about American prisons, it does. The
nickname (which I hadn't known) seems a little silly to me, though.
--
Jerry Friedman
J. J. Lodder
He is supposed to have been Abraham Rycken,
variant of De Rycke, (E.: The Rich)
(no idea how the second r came in)
Jan
Horace LaBadie
"musika" <mUs...@SPAMNOTexcite.com> wrote:
That's New York's politicians.
Duggy
wrote:
> In article <93lckeFoj...@mid.individual.net>,
> Athel Cornish-Bowden <acorn...@ifr88.cnrs-mrs.fr> wrote:
>
> > No doubt in the past few days we've all seen the entrance to Rikers
> > Island: "the home of New York's boldest". How is the word "boldest"
> > understood in the USA? It suggests to me the people who committed
> > particularly bold crimes before they were sent there (and they're the
> > only ones who can really call it home), but that seems unlikely to be
> > the intended meaning. It wouldn't have occurred to me that employment
> > as a prison officer implied a high degree of boldness.
>
> It's a play on the phrase, "New York's Finest," referring to the police
> department, and, as such, doesn't need much justification. It means the
> Corrections Officers in general.
Members of the FDNY have the nickname "New York's Bravest".
Members of the FDNY EMS have the nickname "New York's Best".
I keep reading "NYC Department of Sanitation Workers: “New York’s
Strongest”... but that's got to be a joke, right?
===
= DUG.
===
Dr Nick
Bold is well down the list of attributes I'd be looking for if choosing a
prison officer. Surely it's a profession where risk aversion is a
positive asset.
--
Online waterways route planner | http://canalplan.eu
Plan trips, see photos, check facilities | http://canalplan.org.uk
Ian Jackson
<nos...@de-ster.demon.nl> writes
--
ian
Athel Cornish-Bowden
Maybe it came in when New Yorkers were less rhotic than they are today.
Non-rhoticism has declined noticeably in my lifetime -- in the Boston
area, say, or the south -- and I wouldn't be surprised if once it
extended well outside Boston. For a non-rhotic person "Riker" would be
the natural way of spelling what they[1] thought "Rycke" sounded like
in the mouth of a Dutchman.
[1] If Eric is reading this, I mean "he or she".
> --
athel
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
<3-no...@temporary-address.org.uk> wrote:
>Jerry Friedman <jerry_f...@yahoo.com> writes:
>
>> On May 19, 2:24 pm, Athel Cornish-Bowden <acorn...@ifr88.cnrs-mrs.fr>
>> wrote:
>>> No doubt in the past few days we've all seen the entrance to Rikers
>>> Island: "the home of New York's boldest". How is the word "boldest"
>>> understood in the USA? It suggests to me the people who committed
>>> particularly bold crimes before they were sent there (and they're the
>>> only ones who can really call it home), but that seems unlikely to be
>>> the intended meaning. It wouldn't have occurred to me that employment
>>> as a prison officer implied a high degree of boldness.
>>
>> According to the stereotypes about American prisons, it does. The
>> nickname (which I hadn't known) seems a little silly to me, though.
>
>Bold is well down the list of attributes I'd be looking for if choosing a
>prison officer. Surely it's a profession where risk aversion is a
>positive asset.
The truly risk averse would choose a different profession.
Evan Kirshenbaum
When I grew up in Chicago in the '60s and '70s, garbage men lifted
metal cans full of garbage and dumped them into garbage trucks, house
after house, through all the alleys in the neighborhood. It wouldn't
surprise me if members of that profession thought of themselves as the
"strongest" service. Now, of course, the trucks do the heavy lifting,
but I would guess that the nickname dates back a ways.
--
Evan Kirshenbaum +------------------------------------
Still with HP Labs |English is about as pure as a
SF Bay Area (1982-) |cribhouse whore. We don't just
Chicago (1964-1982) |borrow words; on occasion, English
|has pursued other languages down
evan.kir...@gmail.com |alleyways to beat them unconscious
|and rifle their pockets for new
http://www.kirshenbaum.net/ |vocabulary.
| --James D. Nicoll
Mike Lyle
<evan.kir...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Duggy <Paul....@jcu.edu.au> writes:
>[...]
>>
>> I keep reading "NYC Department of Sanitation Workers: "New York's
>> Strongest"... but that's got to be a joke, right?
>
>When I grew up in Chicago in the '60s and '70s, garbage men lifted
>metal cans full of garbage and dumped them into garbage trucks, house
>after house, through all the alleys in the neighborhood. It wouldn't
>surprise me if members of that profession thought of themselves as the
>"strongest" service. Now, of course, the trucks do the heavy lifting,
>but I would guess that the nickname dates back a ways.
Even with modern wagons and wheelie bins, the garboes still have one
of the most strenuous jobs around: the mechanical lifts just seem to
force them to work faster.
--
Mike.
tony cooper
The garbage trucks in this area do not have the mechanical devices for
personal pick-up. The bags and wheelies are lifted by hand and dumped
in the back of the truck. The heaviest job is Friday when the bins of
newspaper are picked up. A bin of newspapers is much heavier than a
bag of trash.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
Duggy
wrote:
OK, fair call... but it would take an hour of calling themselves that
before people would make jokes about the use of the word "strongest"
to mean "smelliest."
===
= DUG.
===
Roland Hutchinson
The odds that they were unaware of this when they adopted the nickname
would be fairly slim, in my estimation.
--
Roland Hutchinson
He calls himself "the Garden State's leading violist da gamba,"
... comparable to being ruler of an exceptionally small duchy.
--Newark (NJ) Star Ledger ( http://tinyurl.com/RolandIsNJ )
Duggy
True... I'm not sure it's a name or an association I'd want to adopt.
===
= DUG.
===
Roland Hutchinson
You clearly lack the native New Yorker's highly developed sense of irony.
Duggy
Or Garbagemen's family's devolved sense of smell.
===
= DUG.
===
Mike Lyle
<my.sp...@verizon.net> wrote:
>On Mon, 23 May 2011 19:34:35 -0700, Duggy wrote:
>
>> On May 23, 1:42 am, Roland Hutchinson <my.spamt...@verizon.net> wrote:
[...]
>>>
>>> > OK, fair call... but it would take an hour of calling themselves that
>>> > before people would make jokes about the use of the word "strongest"
>>> > to mean "smelliest."
>>>
>>> The odds that they were unaware of this when they adopted the nickname
>>> would be fairly slim, in my estimation.
>>
>> True... I'm not sure it's a name or an association I'd want to adopt.
>
>You clearly lack the native New Yorker's highly developed sense of irony.
But he must be aware of the Aus term for refuse disposal officials:
"garboes". I find that beautifully ironic; and I think it was a
deliberate coinage, as "garbage" wasn't the usual Aus word for
rubbish.
--
Mike.
Duggy
I deliberately didn't use the term garboes in a pervious post.
===
= DUG.
===
R H Draney
>
>On May 25, 8:07=A0am, Mike Lyle <mike_lyle...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> But he must be aware of the Aus term for refuse disposal officials:
>> "garboes". I find that beautifully ironic; and I think it was a
>> deliberate coinage, as "garbage" wasn't the usual Aus word for
>> rubbish.
>
>I deliberately didn't use the term garboes in a pervious post.
You wanted it to be left alone....r
--
Me? Sarcastic?
Yeah, right.
Roland Hutchinson
I have to admit that there is indeed beauty in its irony. Well done, Oz.