Monthly Archives: October 2017

Braggarts

Braggarts – a loud arrogant boaster

Website: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/braggarts

I encountered the word by looking at the word “Brag.” Brag does mean someone who is trying to show off or a boastful statement. In “City Limits,” it says “there are and always will be braggarts who “got in at the right time.” Meaning there will always be braggers around.

Example: My rich uncle is a braggart who constantly boasts about his possessions.

Hokum

Hokum – pretentious nonsense

Website: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hokum

I didn’t really know how to encounter this word because I never heard of this word before. In class, we said Hokum means something that is fake. To me, Hokum doesn’t sound like something is fake.

Example: The fun house featured the giant face of an ogre, twenty feet from chin to crown, nearly that wide, a dimensional sculpture of such imaginative detail that it managed to be scary at the same time that it was pure hokum.

 

Roused

  1. Roused (verb) – archaic to cause to break from cover.

Website: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rouse

I encountered the word by remembering what this means. It took me a minute to think about what the word actually meant. I looked up what roused means and it did recall in my mind however I wasn’t 100% sure. After looking at the definition, I put the definition in the sentence in “City Limits.” In “City limits” it says, “ Maybe you were in a cab leaving the airport when the skyline first roused itself into view.”

Example: Peter the valet, who was now wide awake, had roused the doctor.

Drab

Drab (Noun) – Slattern or prostitute

Website: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/drab

I encountered the word by looking at the sentence. As it says in “City Limits,” “The city also puts a lot of effort into making your hometown look really drab and tiny…” Drab also sounds like a drag so I thought it would mean something like something tiny or somewhere you don’t want to be.

Example: Somber and drab, the gloomy hospital room made the depressed patient even sadder.

Brochure

Brochure (Noun) – one containing descriptive or advertising material

Website: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brochure

I encountered the word by looking at the sentence after. In “City limits,” it says The city has spent a considerable amount of time and money putting the brochure together, what with all the movies. The city also puts a lot of effort into making your hometown look really drab and tiny, just in case you were wondering why it’s such a drag to go back sometimes.” In the first sentence, it sounds like NY or the city was advertising by putting movies, TV shows, and songs together.

Example: A brochure is a magazine or thin book with pictures that gives you information about a product or service.

“Vistor Strolls” Summary

In the article ” A Literary Visitor Strolls In From The Airport” by ( Charles McGrath)  was about an odd author called Will Self that left his drug/alcoholic addiction for 8 years and started  analyzing places during his long marathon walks. The reason why Will Self takes long walks because he mention in the article  that walking makes him feels better than drugs .  However, Mr. Self came to the United States to explore most of of New York’s  geography and to see it’s culture. Impressively, Will walked from  JFK airport to Manhattan and also describes and explains how every borough is different from one another.

Juxtapositions I saw during my walk

For this new project, I chose to walk around Willoughby Street because every time I came to school it was always crowded and loud. Since I had the time to actually walk around the area, I noticed distinct differences between that street and City point-Dekalb Market that had just recently been built.

I can say that I’ve known the Fulton area pretty well since I usually went there to go shopping with my mom when I was a little bit younger, but, walking down Willoughby Street felt like I was walking down Flatbush Ave. There were lots of loud people.. too much loud people, its a bit dirty and a handful of unsavory people hang out there on the street. The shops that lined up on the street were all very close together, there was about one or two deli shops that looked newer than the old buildings so it contradicted with the overall cheap feel of the area. But when I walked down a bit further to where City point was, the air felt way different. From Willoughby Street you can only see the back of city point, its still under construction but there is a different feel around that area even though its only one-two blocks away from Willoughby. City Point is cleaner, and its a little less quieter. Compared to Willoughby street which only has a few shops here and there, inside City Point there is a huge variety of shops to go to! Also theres a huge market downstairs which has, what I like to call, the flavors of New York City. It has lots of different restaurants of different cuisines that its like going to all the different places of the city.

In Charles McGrath’s “A literary visitor strolls in from the airport” Mr.Self says that, “Its that he couldn’t conceptually grasp the idea of walking to New York. I love that.” I feel like that really resonates with my experience because whenever I ask one of my friends to walk with me to Dekalb market they always complain about how far it is from the school, but when I show them what inside is like they feel like they’re exploring the whole taste of the city even though they’re in one place. Walking down Willoughby Street is loud and a lot of rowdy people are there but when I make that transition from there to Dekalb its almost like a mini-manhattan.

I think its very interesting to know that although Willoughby and Dekalb are two different places, with very different vibes. They’re both places people go to get food in between school and work, and they both have their own distinct “tastes” of New York City.

Summary of “City Limits”

In the article “City Limits” by Colson Whitehead It was mostly about his experiences in New York city and how it operates. He gives attention as to why New York is known as the city that never sleeps. He gives his first impressions on his encounters in New York city which I believe is the point of the Article. In the article he states that New York never remains the same it is constantly changing. He then continues on about the history behind NY it’s surroundings, buildings and people. This is the place of opportunities where you can make your dream a possibility.

Pretentious

Pretentious- making usually unjustified or excessive claims (as of value or standing)

Website: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pretent

I encountered the word by looking at “Pretent.” I found this word in the class while we were looking for vocabulary words. Pretent sounds like Pretend. So Pretend means speak and act that is not a true statement.

Example: The swindler was a pretentious man who claimed to be descended from royalty.

A Literary Visitor Strolls in From The Airport summary

In The article A Literary Visitor Strolls in From The Airport an author named Will Self who was originally from London wanted to explore New York. He surprisingly walked 26 miles from his house in London to Heathrow which is fascinating . Will Self is a former drug addict and alcoholic and has been clean for 8 years. In his spare time he runs for miles on miles, he feels that walking for miles makes him feel better than drugs and alcohol ever did. Will Walked from JFK airport to Manhattan his reason for doing this was to explore and actually see the different parts of our city. Throughout the rest of the article Will explores the different parts of our city and explains how communities change on his journey to Manhattan.