Saturday, December 28, 2002
“More recently, with the help of a large city incentive package, Metropolitan Life moved 1,500 employees from Manhattan to a 400,000 square foot converted factory building on Queens Plaza North. If locals thought the arrival of MetLife would usher in a new wave of cultural development and mixed-use retail activity, they were wrong. MetLife received a hefty $26.2 million in discretionary tax and energy incentives over the next 20 years from the city, and the state kicked in $4.3 million in grants and loans for worker training and renovation costs. But like the Citicorp tower down the street, the MetLife building wasn’t developed in a way that encourages the firms’ employees to participate in the surrounding neighborhood. It has all the ‘comforts of home’ with a gym, cafeteria, ATM, and stamp vendors. The company is currently floating the idea of a pedestrian tunnel from the 7 train right into their building. If this happens, not a single worker will actually have to set foot in Long Island City.” (Source Link)
This is the personal weblog of Grant Barrett, editor of the Double-Tongued Dictionary, a collection of words from the fringes of English. More about this site...
Recent Entries
- Where would we be without “ass”?
- Organizing Our Marvellous Neighbours
- What a bitchin’ word!
- Don’t forget about the dialect: dauncy/donsie, faunch, and jockey box
- Wilf? Yuffer? Get real!
- Lexicographer Laurence Urdang Dies at 81
- A thesaurus can be harmful
- Can bad language punditry be stopped? Can false attributions for classic quotes be fixed?
- There’s one in every country
- Scottish Language Dictionaries fundraiser
- SouthWest Writers
- Disfluencies: What do they mean by “I mean”?
- A hearty endorsement of shout quotes: scare quotes used for emphasis
- How to buy a dictionary
- Jinx and padiddle: games we play
Recent Catchwords
- tweening n. (10/12)
- financial incest n. (10/12)
- cutter t-shirt n. (10/10)
- Taliban union n. (10/10)
- suicide headache n. (10/10)
- packing for Perth n. (10/9)
- zombie economy n. (10/9)
- wasteman n. (10/9)
- stinkin’ thinkin’ n. (10/9)
- Delaware effect n. (10/9)
- skronk n. (10/8)
- carting n. (10/8)
- balloon addendum n. (10/8)
- nuclear winter n. (10/7)
- recessionista n. (10/7)
- paint the tape v. phr. (10/7)
- Minnewisowa n. (10/7)
- fluffy n. (10/7)
- charticle n. (10/6)
- window-dress v. (10/5)
Archives
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
September 2005
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003
December 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000
December 1999
November 1999
June 1999