Uff Da, and the Norwegian languages were going so well

[Harold F. Schiffman]

New York Times, December 9, 2003

A Chance to Meet Some Winners

By CLYDE HABERMAN

    DARN, and the Norwegian language lessons were going so well.

With the Republicans coming to town for their national convention next
summer, it seemed to make sense to learn a few expressions. Call it one
New Yorker's goodwill gesture to the visitors, a response to their
original plan to hole up dockside aboard a ship owned by Norwegian Cruise
Lines. (The company may be in Miami, but there is that name.) The
Norwegian phrase "uff da" had been mastered when the House Republican
leader, Tom DeLay, gave up the ship. It now appears that conventiongoers
will forgo the security of a Hudson River pier to venture into the wilds
of Manhattan. We'd like to think they will be reasonably safe.  Attacks on
out-of-towners are not the norm here. New Yorkers are usually content with
mugging their own.

No offense to Norway, but there is little reason now to pursue the
language studies any further. Perhaps it is just as well. "Uff da" will do
fine for so many situations. The phrase has been translated in various
ways, but officials at the Norwegian Consulate General in Manhattan say
that "good grief" and "what a shame" capture its essence. It is uttered
when things don't go quite right. To put it in terms that New Yorkers will
understand, regardless of ethnicity, it is sort of a Scandinavian "oy
vey."

Perhaps Mr. DeLay himself has had reason to use the phrase, though
probably not too often of late. Things have been going the Republicans'
way for some time. They control the House, the Senate and the White House.
They command a solid majority of governorships. Even in normally
Democratic New York, they have triumphed in the last three elections for
both mayor and governor. Plain and simple, they have figured out how to
win. And now that they intend to walk among us instead of hiding out on a
cruise ship, perhaps some of their good karma will rub off on us.

We certainly could do worse than to have contact with winners. In case you
hadn't noticed, New York is on a losing streak in endeavors that it deems
important. Sports? The Mets were hopeless this year, and the Yankees
looked listless in dropping the World Series. The hockey Rangers are
mediocre, and the Islanders worse. The two football teams, which insist on
calling themselves New York even though they play in New Jersey, are
embarrassments. The basketball Knicks are not much better.

Broadway? This fall has had more turkeys than Thanksgiving. One show,
"Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All," opened and closed within 24
hours the quickest hook in years. (One of these days, a producer is going
to read a devastating newspaper review on a hand-held computer and shut
down a play during the opening-night intermission.) Things are so bad that
Ned Beatty, who plays Big Daddy in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," publicly
complained that his movie-trained co-stars were not up to the rigors of
the stage. At least two actresses, including Mary Tyler Moore, left their
plays after being rebuked for not knowing their lines.

What's next? Violinists at Carnegie Hall tripping over a Mozart piece
because it has too many notes? WALL STREET, at least, is on a roll, and
that should translate into good news for the municipal treasury. Yesterday
alone, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by more than 102 points,
putting it within sight of the 10,000 mark. But as splendid as that may
be, it is hard to see how it benefits the record numbers of homeless
people seeking shelter in the city, or the 8.2 percent of New Yorkers who
are officially out of work. When it comes to the unemployment rate, no
major metropolitan area is doing worse.

In general, New York's post-9/11 halo seems to be fading.

Mr. DeLay, for example, strongly supports a transportation bill that could
cost the city hundreds of millions of dollars in federal money.
Washington's formula for distributing antiterrorism aid leaves New
Yorkers, per capita, with a fraction of what people are getting in, oh,
Wyoming.  That may make sense if you believe the Buffalo Bill Museum in
Cody, Wyo., is now a bigger target for the terrorists than the Brooklyn
Bridge. As for Albany, its chronic dithering is so severe that lawmakers
cannot agree even on something as simple as a new law to keep the city's
sidewalks from being swamped by street vendors.

Nothing is guaranteed, of course, but maybe things will improve for New
York once the Republicans come to town, with their winning ways. Can't go
on forever saying "Uff da."


http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/09/nyregion/09NYC.html