Places

Holus Bolus: “The Square”, Manhattan

BY Author pubare4 | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Holus Bolus, Manhattan

The Square

People gathering at night to enjoy restaurants, movies, theaters

All sorts of wonderful entertainment in one colorful square

A square that would become a celebration point for all America

The VE Day celebrations there would echo around the world

All this can only mean one square the Times Square

Before the New York Times built a new building on 43rd Street in 1904

To give the name Times Square it was known as Longacre Square

Earlier the turn of the century a somewhat dangerous place

A place where only villains and the like would dare enter

– Reginald Stanley Birch

Diglot: Speaking Russian in Brighton Beach

BY Author delphine17900 | Posted on | FILED UNDER Categories Brooklyn, Diglot

A Book, Music, and Film store on Brighton Beach Avenue

A diglot is somebody who is fluent in two languages – bilingual, in other words. Being bilingual in New York City can be a very useful thing. It has also made it much easier for me to learn Spanish as a third language in school, since I grew up speaking two languages. There are many Russian immigrants in this city, and I am one of them. When I go shopping at Brighton Beach, the Jewish-Russian neighborhood near Coney Island in Brooklyn, I am able to speak to the shopkeepers in Russian, since they are often more fluent in Russian than English. Knowing Russian allows me to know what I’m buying in those stores, as many of their products have Russian titles, and unlike an average American, I actually know what I’d be buying. A lot of Russian foods do not have a direct translation into English, but since I know the language, I am able to enjoy many of the foods I used to enjoy when I lived in Moscow. And, since quality food is very important to me, I am glad that I am what they call a diglot.