The next stop is...
Today, riding the subway home, there was a young man (boy?) standing by the door of the car, holding a New York map that was notated in an Asian language (my guess is Chinese, but I'm not positive.)
The subway cars on the East Side (and some of the #2 trains on the West Side) now have automated Disneyland-like voices which announce the stops. "Stand clear of the closing doors, please," a man intones with a hearty cadence.
The map-holding man didn't seem to be a native speaker of English, but he had this phrase down. He would say it along with the voice, matching the rise and fall of the words, getting the slightly self-satisfied cheeriness of the tone.
"Stand clear of the closing doors, please."
"The next stop is ... Sixty-Eighth Street!"
"The next stop is ... Seventy-Seventh Street!"
"The next stop is ... Eighty-Sixth Street!"
There, he folded up his map carefully, and joined the throng of people leaving the Six train, heading out into the wintry night.
The subway cars on the East Side (and some of the #2 trains on the West Side) now have automated Disneyland-like voices which announce the stops. "Stand clear of the closing doors, please," a man intones with a hearty cadence.
The map-holding man didn't seem to be a native speaker of English, but he had this phrase down. He would say it along with the voice, matching the rise and fall of the words, getting the slightly self-satisfied cheeriness of the tone.
"Stand clear of the closing doors, please."
"The next stop is ... Sixty-Eighth Street!"
"The next stop is ... Seventy-Seventh Street!"
"The next stop is ... Eighty-Sixth Street!"
There, he folded up his map carefully, and joined the throng of people leaving the Six train, heading out into the wintry night.
posted by crumblord at 5:40 PM
1 Comments:
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