Fwd: Re: [OT] McGuinness/margin in Polish Brooklyn

[David Donnell]

>Hello,
>
>I tried posting this to the ADS-L mailing list as a response to your
>email, but I think it didn't work:
>
>
>The Polish word for margin is "margines", but as far as my native
>intuition goes, I can only think of three contexts for its use:
>margin on a piece of paper, margin of society, and make a marginal
>note. "Margines" would definitely sound odd if used in the sense of
>"boundary" ("granica" would be used instead). Yet, given that we're
>dealing with bilingual people here, who code switch frequently, it
>doesn't seem unreasonable to assume that they would transfer this
>English meaning of "margines" into Polish.
>
>However, I noticed that Polish speakers who are not proficient in
>English often substitute similar-sounding Polish words for English
>words, just to make them sound more familiar, for example, I know a
>person who calls Turn Pike "turban" (same meaning as in English).
>Other examples abound. This explanation seems more plausible to me,
>especially that Polish neighborhoods are not ripe with people so
>advanced in English as to make this kind of transfer (no insult
>intended, it's just an observation).
>
>Luiza Newlin-Lukowicz
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: David Donnell <daviddonnell at NYC.RR.COM>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Sent: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:43 am
>Subject: [OT] McGuinness/margin in Polish Brooklyn
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>
>Sender:       American Dialect Society
><<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>
>Poster:       David Donnell
><<mailto:daviddonnell at NYC.RR.COM>daviddonnell at NYC.RR.COM>
>
>Subject:      [OT] McGuinness/margin in Polish Brooklyn
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>
>I beg your pardon, I reckon this is more ESL than ADS-L material:
>
>
>
>A Polish woman in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn told me
>
>that local Polish-speakers pronounce McGuinness Blvd as
>
>"MAR-gee-nees", because it is considered a 'margin' between the two
>
>sides of the community.
>
>
>
>McGuinness Blvd is the major thoroughfare one takes to get into
>
>Manhattan, via the Queens Midtown Tunnel or the 59th Street Bridge...
>
>here's a map:
>
><http://www.mapquest.com/maps/%5B61-111%5D+McGuinness+Blvd+Brooklyn+NY+11222/>http://www.mapquest.com/maps/%5B61-111%5D+McGuinness+Blvd+Brooklyn+NY+11222/
>
>
>
>Anyone know the Polish word for 'margin'?
>
>
>
>DD
>
>Missourian @ NYC
>
>
>
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