One guy on The Two-Way's masthead speaks Spanish, and it isn't this blogger.
So I can't really poke fun at New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (I) for his efforts to hablar español during the news conferences he held before, during and after Hurricane Irene.
But I can tell you that the whimsical Twitter page "@ElBloombito" — a bit of fun at the mayor's expense — has quickly accumulated followers (including the mayor, apparently). They've noticed, as The New York Times puts it, "that when Mr. Bloomberg speaks Spanish, it sounds as if he is engaged in a wrestling match with his own tongue."
ElBloombito was created by Rachel Figueroa-Levin of Manhattan's Inwood/Washngton Heights. (Note at 11:30 a.m. ET: Earlier, we mistakenly said she lives in the Inwood on Long Island.)
Her first tweet as ElBloombito was "Hola Newo Yorko! El stormo grande is mucho dangeroso!"
Among our favorites since then:
-- "Muchos trees esta falling downo. No stando under los trees. Que splat!"
-- "No cars que allowed para drivando en el parque del central. Bicycletos y pedestrianos eres okay. Que Exerciso!"
-- "No collecto todos los garbage today. Pero que si your usual dia esta today por favor to leave it at los curb anyway. Que stinky!"
According to the Times, Bloomberg was asked about @ElBloombito at a news conference earlier this week. "The mayor, smiling, said: 'Tengo 69 años. Es difícil para aprender un nuevo idioma.' (Translation: 'I'm 69 years old. It's difficult to learn a new language.')"
And just how does the mayor sound when he switches to Spanish? There's a good example at the start of this video clip.
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.