There ’s no place that looks , smack , or sounds quite likeNew York City . If you ’ve drop time in the city , or plan to , you might want to take a look at some of the most vulgar slang term you ’ll find in the Big Apple , which are every spot as classifiable as the jargon get inPhiladelphiaorChicago .
1. Schmear
When you desire a beigel with a generous serving of cream tall mallow , New Yorkers will ask for one with aschmear . According to the Oxford English Dictionary , when the give-and-take ( sometimes spelledschmeer ) was coined in the early twentieth century , itoriginally meant“everything possible or available , ” which comes in handy when ordering anything you require more of . It specifically came to mean “ a spread for boodle or other food for thought , ” especially emollient cheeseflower , by 1914 .
2. Fuhgeddaboudit
A kind of deal expressionamongNew Yorkers and New Jersey residents , fuhgeddabouditis to “ block about it , ” or to dismiss some construct undeserving of a person ’s attending . According to the OED , the full musical phrase firstpopped upinThe Detroit Free Pressin 1919 . But it seems that we have Hollywood to thank for popularize the truncated version . As former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitztold theBrooklyn Daily Eaglein 2016 ( which is when the borough unveiled road polarity withfuhgeddabouditemblazoned on them ) , the term likelymade its debuton the 1950s sitcomThe newlywed , which was jell in Brooklyn . From there , the phrasal idiom ’s star only rose : Johnny Depp offer an explainer on the condition while limn undercover copper Joe Pistone in 1997’sDonnie Brasco(see above ) ; the writing staff ofThe Sopranosprobably had a keyboard shortcut for it .
3. Bodega
New Yorkers frequent convenience stores , but unless they have a7 - Elevenemblazoned over the entree , they often refer to them asbodegas , the Spanish give-and-take for “ cellar . ” The termstems fromthe independently - owned Puerto Rican quick - shop storefront , which beganopening upas early waves of immigrants arrived in NYC in the other twentieth century and increased in turn after World War II . Bodegasdiffer from other turning point storesin that owner tend to take a personal stake in customers , and vice versa . The stores are also known for theirquasi - legal cats .
4. Hero
Not to be confused with a brave person , heroin NYC parlancerefers to a torpedo sandwich — a longsighted whorl stuffed with meats , tall mallow , and vegetables . ( Herohas also found use in other country of the country , but not in Philly ; there , this type of sandwich is called ahoagie . ) Some believe the termoriginated in 1936 withNew York Herald Tribunewriter Clementine Paddleford , who remarked that someone “ had to be a hero ” to eat up a sandwich that large . She was n’t kidding : In 1940 , one Chicago newspaper alerted lecturer that an oversized hero had dislocated a man ’s jaw .
5. Brick
Yes , many NYC buildings are bricked , but that ’s not whatbrickmeans in city talk . concord to Green ’s Dictionary of Slang , when used as an adjective , brickmeans it ’s methamphetamine hydrochloride - cold outside . One possible explanationis that a brick ’s surface typically feels moth-eaten than the ambient temperature . If it ’s brick , it ’s as moth-eaten as it gets .
6. Rubberneck
If you do n’t live in the city , you ’re a holidaymaker , and therefore arubberneckorrubbernecker — a personconstantly craning and contorting their neckto take in the tidy sum .
7. Bronx Cheer
When New Yorkers want to be dismissive , they invoke aBronx cheerfulness — or what most of the quietus of the country call off raspberries . Making athbpttttfart disturbance by blow through your lips is implicative of the perceive vulgar manners of those in the Bronx . In 1923,The New York Timesreported that “ The bunch render the hero a Bronx cheer for the effort and razzed him ofttimes thereafter , with some justice , too , for [ Babe ] Ruth ’s actions were an insult to the intelligence of the people who had paid their in force money to see him toy baseball . ”
8. Pie
For most citizenry , pieinvokes a steaming orchard apple tree pastry fresh out of the oven . For dweller of NYC , though , it means a piping hot pizza pie . The preference may have amount from Italian immigrant whowanted to avoid confusionstemming from citizenry ordering an intact pizza and those tell just a gash . OneNew York Tribunearticle from 1903remarkedon the “ pomidore pizza pie , ” or “ tomato pie , ” which involved the then - novel idea of putting tomato fade on flatten clams . The slang termred hotwas used to describe it .
9. Schlep
When youneed to empty out your apartment — or help a acquaintance do the same — you’ll beschleppingbelongings from one place to another . The Christian Bible isderivedfrom the Yiddishshlepnand Germanschleppen , both meaning “ to haul . ”
Schlepis specially good to utilise whentransporting heavy itemslong distances ( you ’d schlep a bookcase across Ithiel Town , but not a hero across the street ) , and it can also be used when talking about going somewhere yourself : If you ’re visiting a friend in a vicinity far from your own , you might say you ’ll have toschlepall the way over there . The word has found other use , too ; in the Diamond District , aschleperis someone who give their bills late .
10. Deadass
Are you serious ? Then New Yorkersmay label youdeadass , a termdating back to the 1950sthat once referred to resting on one ’s posterior but now means something more like sincere . The word gained national recognition on the bounder of singer Billie Eilish being fond of it .
11. Regular Coffee
Do you want a black coffee berry ? require for mordant coffee . Do you want a coffee with ointment and loot ? In New York ( as well as in Boston ) , that ’s aregular coffee . Order that anywhere else and you ’ll probably get require what you require in it .
12. Bridge and Tunnel
Coming into Manhattan from one of the outer boroughs ( like Queens ) or New Jersey ? New Yorkers may refer to you as one of thebridge and tunnelpeople , since those outside the metropolis willneed to travelvia bridgework or burrow to get there . Is it a pejorative ? Well , yes . But ah , fuhgeddaboudit .
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