Greenpoint
Lorven Pharmacy
Culture on the Cheap
Spotted On Manhattan Avenue: A Query
I happened upon a number of these fliers while walking down Manhattan Avenue this morning. I must have encountered at least eight between Huron and India Street alone. Clearly this person is annoyed. Believe you me yours truly feels his (or her pain); several years ago I had the misfortune of having a neighbor who was seemingly unaware that smoke detectors require batteries in order to function simply jettison it out the window in a fit of pique. As a result we had to listen to its dulcet mating call for 24 hours straight. This made me very unhappy.
The good news is methinks I have located the source of this sound! Last night as the Mister and I were walking down Manhattan Avenue we were rather mystified by a strange beeping sound originating from the pay phones located in front of Ott Restaurant. Feeling cheeky, I answered both pay phones with an enthusiastic:
Dobranoc!*
I was met with silence— and the beeping kept right on going! If the author of the above missives is reading this methinks this is where you’ll find your culprit. Good luck!
Miss Heather
*This means “Good Night” in Polish.
Comments
9 Comments on Spotted On Manhattan Avenue: A Query
-
eagle_teater on
Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 7:01 am
-
upnorth on
Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 7:51 am
-
missheather on
Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 8:17 am
-
missheather on
Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 8:19 am
-
Penny on
Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 8:31 am
-
Penny on
Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 8:42 am
-
missheather on
Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 10:33 am
-
eagle_teater on
Thu, 2nd Jun 2011 11:28 am
-
T.S. on
Sat, 4th Jun 2011 11:36 am
Not to be pedantic but if Polish is anything like Russian (and it is) then Dobro Noch is two words.
Many cities have high-pitched sirens to keep birds from flying in plane routes. I’m from Toronto and hear it all the time. I’m not sure if that’s what you are experiencing but if not, atleast you know you aren’t alone in hearing annoying sounds in your city. Also, given that Miss Heather responded, you also know that you aren’t crazy 😀 There’s a silver lining to everything.
@eagle-teater: my spelling is correct. There’s a really nice lady who works at a beauty supply here where I get my bath salts, etc. Every time I go there (and provided she is working) she teaches me a new Polish word!
There are people who would opined that if I responded the person in question is indeed crazy! 😉 That said, the noise coming from that pay phone kiosk was really weird.
I guess that this beeping is either (1) a matter for the dept of Homeland Security, or (2) some attempt by evil spirits to cross over from the other side. In either case teaching them Polish is a really bad idea. Like “crossing the streams”.
Those are Verizon phones. Was the beeping coming from the handpiece? Or from inside the bowls of the phone box?
It appeared to be coming from somewhere within the kiosk proper. Not from either phone. Very strange.
That’s what I get for not googling. You are correct. Odd.
I work on India street, and I did notice the beeping sound, It’s been going on for at least a month and a half now, and it’s very distracting in late hours when I have to concentrate on work. It’s hard to notice during the day as the sound of traffic and birds drowns it out. I can imagine it would get on your nerves if you had to live with it 24/7 and especially when you’re trying to fall asleep. It’d make my day if it got turned off. I really doubt it’s coming from a payphone. It sounds to me like a carbon monoxide alarm that is running low on battery. I can’t believe that whoever lives in the building it’s coming from just ignores it…?
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
You must be logged in to post a comment.
NYS Flickr Pool
