Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-14
NEW YORK NEWS ITEMS
Doings Gathered In and About
Busy Gotham and Its Vicinity

Portable weather has no dread for New
York's floating colony, for within the
sight of the disconcerting skyscrapers
downtown and within few minutes
ride away from the sun-beaten thor
oughfares there is small city on
water. The dwellers in this town know
no night of sweltering summer, for
their anchored homes are everlastingly
swept by breezes of the Atlantic. Each
resident of this floating town has his
own roof garden, his pretty craft is his
street car, and although he is not
awakened in the morning by the cry OF
the hawker or the rumble of the
butchers wagon he is served just the
same. Tradesmen ply their vocations
here as they do on terra firma; resi-
dents visit each other in the self-same
way and, Notwithstanding no two
families live in the same house, the
social gayety'' Is never interrupted. A
flag flying from each dwelling tells
whether the owner is at home, whether
he has guests or whether he is dining.
One may gaze from without the Win
dow of his summer home as the poor
dwellers of earth do in summer and
see the same things which give the
housewives their topics for discussion
This town of water is in Gravesend
Bay. 1t is fianked upon one side by
the beautiful homes of the Atlantic
Yacht club and on the other by the
: Marine and Field club, the New York
Canoe club, the Brooklyn Yacht club
and the Bensonhurst Yacht club. The
members of these organizations-the
Atlantic, articularly-number some of
the best-known business men and
f1nanciers in New York. Their duties
in the city do not permit them to get
away in the summer months, so IN
stead of suffering in the heat of the
metropolis they dwell down here on
their pretty yachts. The routine OF the
day varies only in slight degree. A
resident will arise at his customary
hour, have his breakfast, get his
launch. spin to the yacht clubs dock
and there take boat to the Battery.
During his absence the housewife car
ries on her duties just as she would
on shore. Soon after the meal has
been finished a little motor-boat heaves
in sight In it are the representatives
of the butcher, the baker, the grocer,
New Italian Dialect
italian workmen in New York are
gradually constructing for themselves
a dialect which perplexes and as
tounds their newly arrived country
men who strive to understand 1t. They
go on phonetic principles entirely, sub
stituting for much-used English words
italian words which sound like them.
but mean something else. The use OF
such words in Italian conversation in
their new sense is very puzzling to the
newcomer. For instance, steam"
they call 'stima," pronounced
"steama," which does not mean steam
at all, but respect Coat they call
"cotto," which means cooked. Pound
they call "pondo,'' which is one of the
Italian words for weight. Basket is
metamorphosed into "boschetta,'
which means little grove. A street
car they universally call "carro."
"Street car is "tramelettrico" in
Italian, while "carro" means wagon.
Factory" is universally named fat
toria," though 'fattoria' does not
mean factory at all, but farm house.
''Desk' they call "desco," though
desco in Italian means dinner table.
Some ingenuity was expended in find
ing a term for elevated" There are
no elevated roads in Italy and it was
a totally new word; so they call it
"oliveto," pronounced ''olivayto,"
which means an olive orchard. They
even recognized a familiar sound in
"Hoboken,' A "bocchin," pronounced
"boken,'' is little cleft or canyon in
the mountains where the wind rushes
through. They prefixed an 20" and
called Hoboken "Obocchin." On the
contrary, WuSll LdlhlllS LII IS1iiehiA my
always use the English word ma
chine" as if the machine We're so
identified with American life that it
could not possibly be called by its
Italian equivalent. The proper names
of America become something far
softer and prettier than they really are
on the lips of Italian residents. Brook
lyn'' is invariably "Brookalino," New
York; is New Yorko," and so on.
Boom for Hoboken
Where are all those people going"
asked a passenger on North River
ferryboat "Hoboken," said an officer.
"They are going over there to study
local color. That is new Saturday
evening diversion for New Workers.
Hoboken, at any time, is place to
conjure with; on Saturday nights 1t
is particularly a place of mixed de-
lights. Then it has a decidedly Old
World atmosphere-the crews of the
steamers docked on the Hoboken side
of the river are ashore, dressed in their
nattiest uniforms; scraps of languages
from every country in Europe can be
picked up in the cafes; there are
bevies of pretty girls who have fiocked
down to the piers to flirt and watch the
flirting and score of other pictur-
esque features peculiar to the time and
place. New Workers on the Lookout
for untried attractions have found
them in Hoboken."
Gas House and Gastritis
Some of the medical f1edgelings at
Bellevue hospital manage to find
amusement even in the ills of the peo-
pie who flock to the institution for
treatment. An old negro woman en-
tered the reception room one morning
last week and said she felt mighty
sick, indeedy." When the doctor who
was summoned examined her he could
find nothing the matter with her.
''What seems to be the trouble?" he
asked. Use sure 1 has gastritis, doc
tor, cause Use got an awful pain in
ma stomach replied the woman. do
YOU live near a gas house?" he in
uuired. "Yes, L live right across the
street from one and dat's what makes
me think Use got gastritis,' answered
the old woman. "Well, take this bot
tie of medicine home with you,p said
the doctor, "and if that gastritis is
not gone in a week come back here
again and I'll amputate your stom-
ach.'' The old woman thanked him
profusely and took the medicine along
with her.