[Ads-l] WOTY?
Joel Berson
berson at ATT.NET
Fri Nov 13 02:27:08 UTC 2015
At least until August. And east of the Hudson.
"Yo Oy". "Yo" as seen by Manhattanites looking toward the unsettled, fertile plains of Brooklyn Bridge Park; "Oy" as seen by Brooklynites looking at the land they have migrated from and would not wish to return to. (The artist disclaims any interpretations.)
Color illustration of one on the first page of today's New York Times, black-and-white of the other on an inside page. (The front page caption in the print edition has incorrectly reversed the viewpoint, I believe. See the text of the article.)
Online at Oy or Yo? Sculpture With Something to Say Lands at Brooklyn Bridge
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| Oy or Yo? Sculpture With Something to Say Lands at Brook...The new sculpture by the artist Deborah Kass yells “YO” if you are looking at it from Manhattan or “OY” if you are gazing out from Brooklyn. |
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| View on www.nytimes.com | Preview by Yahoo |
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Etymological note: "Peter Sokolowski, the editor at large ofMerriam-Webster, said that both words had long histories, though “oy” onlybecame “a naturalized citizen of English” in the 1890s. He dated the use of theEnglish word “yo” to as far back as the 15th century, when it was in use inMiddle English."
Joel
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
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