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Answers to “Are You A Native?” Quiz
By Alexa11221 | February 7, 2008
1. If you pronounce it with a long U sound (like “pootnam”) you are definitely from around here.
2. If you say “Troop,” you are correct. It’s the original Dutch pronunciation.
3. If you refer to Marcus Garvey Boulevard as Sumner Avenue, you’re an old-timer.
4. “T & T” equals “between Throop and Tompkins.” At least, if you’re a car service dispatcher (I was surprised nobody guessed this … I think I may take too many car services).
5. It was Reid Avenue before it was renamed.
February 7th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
no shit on POOTnum? wow, i can’t believe it!
i’m also gonna start calling it “BROODway”. people’ll think i’m russian.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Most people I know pronounce it PUT (as in “put that down!”) nam. vs. Putt (as in golf) nam - not really POOT.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I got them all right even number 4 =)
I lived on Sumner and on Reid as a kid so I always call it that.
February 7th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
WELL I GOT SOME RIGHT WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO DO ANOTHER ONE
February 7th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
I am surprised by “put”nam. Does anyone know how that pronunciation came about?
I have one for you, Jay ….. Macon Street. How do/would you say it?
February 7th, 2008 at 5:28 pm
I hear a lot of MahCON — as opposed to Macon, Georgia. Maybe it’s like Berlin, Connecticut — supposedly during WWI the pronounciation was officially changed to BerLIN to differentiate it from BERlin, Germany…
February 7th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Reid Avenue is Malcolm X Blvd. Does anyone remember when Stuyvesant Ave ran North?
February 8th, 2008 at 10:25 am
@babs - you’re right, it does rhyme with puut not poot, I need to be more careful with my phonetic spelling.
As for why–I don’t know. I grew up saying “Puhtnam” because I lived near Putnam State Park, named after Isaac Putnam, a Revolutionary War general, which had a cool statue of him on a rearing horse at the entrance (must take my son there some day).
Maybe it’s the Dutch influence again, like saying “Troop” and “Claw-son” instead of “Throop” and “Class-in.”
And I don’t know how to say Nostrand–GNAW-strand? NOH-strund? I’ve heard lots of variations.
Thanks everyone for participating!
February 8th, 2008 at 11:59 am
How about Halsey-
People from around there say: Haalzee instead of Hall-see, right?
February 8th, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Babs: I thought macon rhymed with bacon, but my neighbors say MAY-CON (stressing both syllables equally)
Ed: I’ll find out about Stuyvesant. Where did you hear that it ran north?
Alexa: I know there is a book out there that woudl tell us, but I bet Putnam Ave. was named for that war hero. As for Nostrand, I say and hear NOH-strund.
I wanna play again, Alexa!
February 9th, 2008 at 12:00 am
Yeah, it’s May-Con, Noh-strund and definitely Hahlzee. I’m a native, see, ny name says so and everything.
February 9th, 2008 at 9:54 am
@Newbie2: I have that book. Somewhere. I’ll try to find it.
March 28th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I am not so sure about the explanation of Throop being pronounced “troop.” In Dutch, there is no “th” sound as there is in English and two “o”s in a row are pronounced as a long o, like the o in “open”. So if you were to pronounce Throop using Dutch pronunciation rules, it would be something like “t’rope”. I dunno…