What was Michael Bloomberg thinking? He should of said, “But first, for those comforted by someone speaking Spanish with a terrible accent, here ya go.” Early campaign strategy?

This article appears in Jan 15-21, 2009.

9 replies on “Can You Say ‘Respondiaron?’”

  1. “should of said”??

    First, the guy tried to speak Spanish. In NYC. In my book you give credit for trying on that one because who would expect him to do that. Wow, a Republican reaching out and trying. And you’re there to gig him for it. Congratulations to you.

    Second, “should of said”. It’s should “have” said. Now as a so-called journalist for an English language publication there is a presumption that you have some minimal grasp of the language. I have one brick to throw and I must choose between you and Miguel. You get the brick.

  3. OK, I’ll listen to the tape again. I may even laugh this time, at least I’ll try. Thanks for getting my point. If it’s any consolation, it was a Nerf brick.

  6. — First, the guy tried to speak Spanish. In NYC.

    a nice gesture since a good number of the first responder tug and ferry folks who ply the harbor waters and were doing all the saving speak spanish as a first language.
    that said: bloomberg is still a doo-ssshh.
    viva dinkins!

  7. Buzzer: In the “gotcha” department, look at the first sentence in your third paragraph. In American English, the period and the comma go inside quotation marks, always, no exceptions. The colon and semicolon always go outside the quotation marks. Placement of question marks and exclamation points depends on the context. You “should of” known that, right?

  8. Thanks for correcting me and if I go looking for a job at a newspaper I’ll make sure I adhere to the grammar tips you kindly passed along to me before I criticize another person for reaching out and trying to communicate in his or her secondary language. A lot of times people are given a little bit of leeway in exchange for the effort. That was my only point. You ever hear Tommy Lasorda back in the day? Massacred the Spanish language but his Hispanic players, and the community gave him a pass because he tried.

    You’re correct: I should have known but I carried the “context” rule of exclamations and questions over to the period. The point wasn’t quite that she made a grammatical error but that she did so while criticizing another for doing so while criticizing another person for not speaking a secondary language well. Perhaps I should have prefaced it with a “talk about the pot calling the kettle black”. Anyway, she and I kissed and made up already. We’re going out for beers.

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