NYspeak

Posted by Bob on May 12, 2000

In Reply to: NYspeak posted by Gary Martin on May 12, 2000

: A new series of NYPD Blue is running in the UK. I quite like the programme - but feel the need for subtitles. Can anyone help me out with a couple of phrases from last night's episode? 'Heads up' & 'you can take that to the bank'. Also, dumpsters seem to be everywhere. What are they? From the context I would guess they are what, in the UK, we call skips, i.e. large metallic rubbish containers that are moved around on lorries (sorry, trucks)..

: Gary

all three are more general American, not specifically NY. Dumpster was originally, I believe, a brand name for what you descibe as a skip. (Interesting name, that.) I'll give you a heads up: NY is the dirtiest large city in America, and you can take that to the bank.