I have a real important question!

[Piri]

I write an English test on Tuesday and it is about New York. We have to know what the five boroughs of New York are and I don't know it! Who can name the five boroughs?
And is there any difference between "boroughs" and "districts"
Thanks
Piri :?

[nimloth]

I can't tell you the difference but the boroughs are:

Brooklyn
The Bronx
Boston
Manhattan
Queens

[Piri]

Thank you very much

[George]

Hi Piri,
borough: part of a city that has its own local government

district: an area of a country, town or state that has official BOUNDARIES

So you use district in a wider sense (like: school district, postal district, theatre district, etc.)

CU
George

[Reiner]

Hi piri,

Boroughs are the 5 administrative divisions of New York City. They exist principally to help distribute city services, and do not have legislative bodies.

Each borough is also a county of New York State. The only "districts" that I can think of in NYC are school districts and election districts, which cover much smaller areas. In a general sense, under New York State law, districts serve very specific functions.

Probably too late for your exam, but I hope this helps your understanding.

Reiner

[Reiner]

By the way, the 5 boroughs are: Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. I'm sure that nimloth didn't really mean "Boston." I lived in the Bronx for 17 years, so if you have other questions, please ask.

Reiner

[nimloth]

By the way, the 5 boroughs are: Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and Staten Island. I'm sure that nimloth didn't really mean "Boston"
Reiner

I have to admit I did. ops: I was so convinced it was Boston..sorry.
Are you from the USA or have you moved there?

[Kid A]

@Reiner: I would have needed you a few days ago, when I had to prepare a presentation about the myth of NY. But in that time, I didn't find any people who live in New York. I wrote many mails, but noone replied my questions. So I had to change my topic and did a presentation about the history of the city, which was not that interesting for my class mates.
But even if the presentation is over, I'm still interested in the myth of New York. How would you describe the feeling to live there?

[Reiner]

@Reiner: I would have needed you a few days ago, when I had to prepare a presentation about the myth of NY. But in that time, I didn't find any people who live in New York. I wrote many mails, but noone replied my questions.

Kid A, a few days ago I had not yet heard of this Forum. Just found it by accident while doing a Google search.

I'm interested in your use of the word "myth." It suggests something that has been embellished in order to make a point. But to me, New York was a very real place when I lived there from 1972 to 1989. It has changed since then, probably for the better, at least as far as crime and the budget for making it a livable city.

For someone coming from a small town with an interest in the world, it is of course a fun place to live or work. To be single, have no obligations, and to be able to go anyplace you want on the subway was great.

You've heard the song, "If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere." Is that the myth? There is some truth to it. You will see vast neighborhoods where almost everyone is an immigrant and they have nice houses and are getting ready to move out of the city. For one reason, because there might be better places to raise a family.

Even compared to a cosmopolitan city like Hamburg or Amsterdam or Paris, I think that New York still has more diversity.

I hope you can find a way to see it for yourself. Good luck,
Reiner

[Reiner]

[I have to admit I did. ops: I was so convinced it was Boston..sorry.
Are you from the USA or have you moved there?

Nimloth, I emigrated from Germany to the U.S.A. when I was four years old. You now know that Boston is the capital of Massachusetts, right? Actually, a beautiful historic city, quite different from New York, just like Philadelphia.

Take care,
Reiner

[Kid A]

Well, that might have been the problem: we couldn't find a real definition for the word "myth". We thought you can only know the myth of New York if you lived or worked there. Or if you just were there one day.
So we had the first problem: we have never been to New York! We could not even imagine how it might be to live in any city, because we all live in tiny villages.
We knew that the question "what is the myth of NY?" would have been a great point to start a discussion or a brainstorming or something, but we had to do a presentation with "PowerPoint" which was quite more difficult. To my mind, a myth is something you cannot write down. And even to tell what it could be is very complicated.
I think it's pretty cool that you lived in New York when you were as old as I am now. but I'd like to ask you something, you mustn't answer if it's to personal: why have you moved away from New York and where do you live at the moment?

[Reiner]

Kid A,

Your English is really great, by the way. I can't imagine that there is any place in Germany that is really far from a big city! Maybe I should not assume you are in Germany!

Anyway, as for your other question, I'll send you a pm later, OK

Reiner

[Kid A]

What? Why do you think there isn't any German village without a big city next to it?
The next "big" city is called Merzig and has roughly 7000 inhabitans. Not that big, is it?
I live in the Saarland, and Luxemburg, Trier or Saarbrücken are more than 45km away from here. But this is not a problem for me. If I have to go to one of this cities, I can take the train in Merzig. And I've got internet! Real important today...

Thank you very much for your compliment... ops: I've been learning English for 2 years now and I try to do the best I can, because it is my favourite subject in school.

Thank you very much for your PM
Isabel