Confederacy of a Dunce - There goes the neighborhood

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

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As if yesterday's entry about the alleged comings and goings of alleged felon 50 Cent wasn't enough, my bike ride home gave me another cause for concern. I was riding home near north London's Clissold Park, when up a block or so ahead I saw a guy pop out from between some parked cars and knock another cyclist off his bike with a big stick. At first I thought I must be seeing things because it's a fairly busy street, and it was nowhere near dark. Then I thought it might be some sort of domestic dispute, but ruled this out fairly quickly as the attacker (and two others) then ignored the victim and went for his bike, trying to unfasten his briefcase from his bike rack. I'm not sure what I would have done had I been the only witness (perhaps shouted "HEY" in as deep and burly a voice as I could muster, which has been successful at dispersing groups of youths a couple of times in the past), but fortunately there were a couple of other cyclists who saw the same thing. We all stopped and ran them off empty-handed (thinking about it afterwards, I'm quite glad we didn't catch any of them), then sort of milled around waiting for the police to arrive (quite quick, thanks to active curtain-twitchers in the area) and the adrenaline to dissipate.

Fortunately the victim was not injured (other than some bruising) and the attackers didn't manage to get anything of value. But this is not at all a pleasant turn of events. I'm aware of other areas in north London where cyclists have been targeted in the past (Somers Town in particular), but these cases tend to be situations where gangs of youths are involved, rather than adults. These guys were all about 18 with buzzcuts and ill-fitting tracksuits. I'm pretty sure they're Polish, not just from their appearance (and the recent increase in the Polish population in the area), but also (and this is a surprise, coming from me) their linguistic characteristics. They were exchanging a few words as we approached, containing quite a variety of fricatives/affricates that are not at all commonly heard in English¹ (which can be briefly and informally described as "lots of sounds like 'zh'"). The Wikipedia entry on the Polish language gives a more-detailed breakdown: consonants like voiced alveolo-palatal fricatives (as in "would you"), voiceless alveolo-palatal affricates (as in "what's your"), voiced alveolar affricates (as in "woods"), and many others. Anyway, my cursory knowledge of phonology (along with a few other factors) led me to conclude rather conclusively that there are some bad Polish apples within a mile or so of home.

¹In case you're wondering, English fricatives are f, v, th as in "thin", th as in "there", s, z, sh as in "she", the sound of "s" in "measure" (this one is closest to the "Polish sound" at least to my ear), and "h" as in "ham".

bike | language

Tuesday, September 27, 2005 1:14:03 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

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Tuesday, September 27, 2005 2:29:34 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Not good news at all. Perhaps carry a large tome to hurl at the hooligans -- or the proverbial "big stick." On the other hand, I'm not quite sure what to say about "50 Cent" except to make bad jokes about keeping the change...

On another note, your mention of fricatives and affricatives took me back to "the longest chapters" I had to read and learn in grad school: those on phonology and especially phonetics. After completing several phonetic transcriptions and myriad related experiments, I hold deep respect for scientists/doctors who work in this tedious field. One of Heather's best friends is a speech pathologist, and I am awed by her stories, research, and the patience she demonstrates daily helping patients.

Also enjoyed the pictoral tour of East London. I agree with blogger "arcite": the combination of pictures and vivid written details on your blog are enjoyable and entertaining to read.

Now watch yourself on those bike rides!

bdw (Brother-in-Law)

Wednesday, September 28, 2005 2:43:51 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

You be careful now, y'hear?

Big Mama

Tuesday, October 04, 2005 2:51:29 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

HAHA!! i live next to Somers Town (Camden Town) and i always keep an eye out for ropes on the road (they pull them up and catch bikers) when i ride through there. It's a war zone out there... (:

johnie1 | purevilAT NOSPAMHellokitty dot com

Tuesday, October 04, 2005 8:35:08 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)

Yeah, when it comes to bike assault, it's amateur night up in the Hackney-Haringey-Islington Prosperity Sphere compared to Somers Town.

The Dunce