It’d Take a Guy a Lifetime…

Curious about the name of this new blog. Here’s an excerpt from Thomas Woolfe’s masterful short story called: “Only the Dead Know Brooklyn” written in thick Brooklynese:

Dere’s no guy livin’ dat knows Brooklyn t’roo an t’roo, because it’d take a guy a lifetime just to find his way aroun’ duh goddam town.

“So like I say, I’m waitin’ for my train t’ come when I sees dis big guy standin’ deh — dis is the foist I eveh see of him. Well, he’s lookin’ wild, y’know, an’ I can see dat he’s had plenty, but still he’s holdin’ it; he talks good an’ is walkin’ straight enough. So den, dis big guy steps up to a little guy dat’s standin’ deh, an’ says, ‘How d’yuh get t’ Eighteent’ Avenoo an Sixty-sevent’ Street?’ he says…”

and

“Jesus! What a nut he was! I wondeh what evah happened to ‘m, anyway. I wondeh if someone knocked him on duh head, or if he’s till wanderin’ aroun’ in duh subway in duh middle of duh night with his little map! Duh poor guy. Say, I’ve got to laugh, at dat, when I t’ink about him! Maybe he’s found out by now dat he’ll never live long enought to know duh whole of Brooklyn. It’d take a guy a lifetime to Brooklyn t’roo an’ t’roo. An even den, yuh wouldn’t know it all.”

One thought on “It’d Take a Guy a Lifetime…”

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