Oxy “morons”

The comedian, George Carlin, made oxymoron a household word. We all remember “giant-shrimp,” “military-intelligence,” and others which demonstrated a contradiction within a term. It is my firm belief that we should add “sophisticated New Yorkers” to the list. Don’t get me wrong; of the many trips I have made to the city, I have seen much kindness, consideration and outright friendliness on the part of the inhabitants. I have also seen some attributes which were not understandable to my mid-western mind set.

Perhaps the hardest to deal with is the attitude that the world revolves around New York City. When you believe you are the center of the universe when in fact you probably haven’t been farther than Jersey City in your perusal of the balance of the planet, it’s hard to take you seriously. On one trip I made the acquaintance of a life long resident whose closest encounter with the Statue of Liberty was from the Staten Island Ferry on a singular trip to visit his aunt. He learned its significance and history from me.

There is a general belief that being the financial capital of the world, there is an understanding of that complicated discipline which is impossible to acquire unless you actually live in the city. The ins and outs of the market, the complicated real estate exchanges, the corporate structures, arbitrage, futures markets and rest are well beyond the ken of rubes from the other 49 states, let alone the rest of the world. Although never actually stated, I have long felt that any question regarding markets would be met with the response, “you wouldn’t understand, it has to do with finance.”

You can only imagine the delight I took in reading this story from the New York Daily News. You have to read it to believe it. They stole the Empire State Building! They took bogus documents, a thirty-five dollar notary stamp, and transferred the property to Nelots Properties LLC. Nelots is “stolen” spelled backward.

Do read this piece because it is a priceless prank which demonstrates that not everything in NYC is as sophisticated as the denizens would have you believe.

Yes, after they made their point, they did give the building back.


In His abiding love,


Cecil Moon