New Yorkistan

{{Short description|Cover Art for The New Yorker magazine, December 10, 2001}}

File:New-yorkistan-new-yorker-cover.jpg]]

"New Yorkistan" is the title of the cover art for the December 10, 2001 edition of The New Yorker magazine. Inspired by a conversation while driving through the Bronx,{{cite news |last1=Boxer |first1=Sarah |title=Critic's Notebook; A Funny New Yorker Map Is Again the Best Defense |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/08/arts/critic-s-notebook-a-funny-new-yorker-map-is-again-the-best-defense.html |access-date=10 August 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=8 December 2001}} it was created by Maira Kalman and Rick Meyerowitz{{cite magazine|url=http://www.newyorker.com/printables/online/020513onsl_kalman|title=How to Conquer Stupidity|author=Maira Kalman|date=2001-05-06|magazine=The New Yorker|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20051219180522/http://www.newyorker.com/printables/online/020513onsl_kalman|archivedate=2005-12-19}}{{cite web|url=http://www.rickmeyerowitz.com/rick-maira/new-yorkistan/ |title=New Yorkistan |author=Rick Meyerowitz |access-date= November 30, 2017}} who did the actual painting, and is (according to the American Society of Magazine Editors) #14 on the list of the top 40 magazine covers of the past 40 years.{{cite web|title=ASME's top 40 magazine covers of the past 40 years|url=http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine-cover-contests/asmes-top-40-magazine-covers-last-40-years|publisher=American Society of Magazine Editors|date=2005-10-17|access-date=2012-11-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181104050040/http://www.magazine.org/asme/magazine-cover-contests/asmes-top-40-magazine-covers-last-40-years|archive-date=2018-11-04|url-status=dead}} It depicts the boroughs of New York City, as well as individual neighborhoods within the city, giving each a humorous name (a "funny mixture of Yiddish, Persian, and New Yorkisms"{{Cite journal|url=http://www.degruyter.de/journals/humor/2002/pdf/15_235.pdf |title=Humour in the news |journal=Newsletter |author=Alleen Pace Nielsen |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050221112732/http://www.degruyter.de/journals/humor/2002/pdf/15_235.pdf |archivedate=February 21, 2005 |url-status=dead }}) based on the history or geography of that area of the city, while playfully using names or suffixes common in the Middle East and Central Asia, such as "-stan". Thus the title, "New Yorkistan".

The cover gained unexpected popularity, with the New Yorker making approximately $400,000 by February 2002 by selling copies of the picture as signed lithographs (all 750 copies of which sold out within 4 days) and unsigned posters.{{cite news|title=The New Yorker uncovers an unexpected profit center - Ancillary Profits - by licensing cover illustrations|work=Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management|date=February 2002|url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3065/is_2_31/ai_83296829}}{{cite news|url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/la/?id=110004685|title=A Print by Any Other Name...|author=Daniel Grand|date=2004-02-12|publisher=The Wall Street Journal|work=OpinionJournal}}

According to Kalman, the inspiration for the cover arose in a car on the way to a party. She and Meyerowitz were talking about tribalism. At one point she came up with the idea of "Bronxistan", to which Meyerowitz replied "You know, we've got a map here." Originally, the picture was to be run on the back page of the magazine, but editors liked it so much that it was decided to make it the cover picture.{{cite web|url=http://loc.gov./loc/lcib/0212/artists.html|title=Response to Horror: Gallery Talks Feature Artists Affected by 9/11 Events|author=Donna Urschel|work=Information Bulletin|publisher=Library of Congress|date=December 2002}}

Susan Jarratt describes the cover as "lampooning both New Yorkers' city-bound geographic consciousness and a nationwide ignorance of the geography of Central Asia". Jarratt notes that it was one of the first "humorous interventions" since the events of September 11, 2001.{{cite book|title=The Viability Of The Rhetorical Tradition|editor1=Arthur E. Walzer |editor2=Richard Graff |editor3=Janet Atwill |author=Susan C. Jarratt|chapter=A Human Measure|year=2005|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-6285-0|page=108}} Urschel notes that this timing of the cover's publication was fortunate. Kalman herself commented on the timing, saying that "if [the cover had come] out earlier, many would have been infuriated, and if it [had come] out later, no one would have cared."

In September, 2004, Meyerowitz and Kalman made a New York City Subway map as a food map, the New York City Sub-Culinary Map, for The New Yorker.{{cite web |last1=Meyerowitz |first1=Rick |title=The New York City Sub Culinary Map |url=https://www.rickmeyerowitz.com/rick-maira/new-york-sub-culinary-map/ |website=RickMeyerowitz.com |access-date=10 August 2022}}

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Place names

The places depicted, with their explanations (according to the artists or to commentators), are as follows:

; {{visible anchor|Al Quarantine}} : Rikers Island, a large jail complex{{cite web|url=http://www.si-web.com/forums/webboard/43829.HTM|work=Staten Island Web Forums|title=Da Forgotten Boro}}

; {{visible anchor|Al Zheimers}} : Alzheimer's disease

; {{visible anchor|Artsifarsis}} : Situated in the Theater District, this is a play on the term "artsy-fartsy", as well as a reference to the Farsi language, which is a language used officially within Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

; {{visible anchor|Bad}}

; {{visible anchor|Badassin}}

; {{visible anchor|Blahniks}} : The Upper East Side where "everyone can afford Manolo Blahnik shoes"{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/08/arts/design/08NOTE.html?ex=1008820507&ei=1|date=2001-12-08|title=A Funny New Yorker Map Is Again the Best Defense|author=Sarah Boxer|work=The New York Times}}

; {{visible anchor|Botoxia}} : Botox

; {{visible anchor|Bronxistan}} : The Bronx

; {{visible anchor|Bulimikhs}} : Bulimics

; {{visible anchor|Central Parkistan}} : Central Park, Manhattan

; {{visible anchor|Chadorstore}} : Jersey City, home of a Muslim community where women wear a chador. Also a pun on The Door Store, a well-known New York furniture store.

; {{visible anchor|Cold Turkeystan}}

; {{visible anchor|E-Z Pashtuns}} : E-ZPass, an electronic toll collection system, as well as the Pashtun ethnic group

; {{visible anchor|Extra Stan}}

; {{visible anchor|Fashtoonks}} : From a Yiddish adjective meaning "stinking, smelly" describing the sometime aromas of the New Jersey industrial wastelands just beyond the Palisades along the Hudson River.

; {{visible anchor|Fattushis}} : There is a popular Middle Eastern Restaurant in that part of Brooklyn called Fattoosh

; {{visible anchor|Feh}} and {{visible anchor|Ptooey}} : Yiddish expressions of negativity ("feh!", "ptooey!") for a part of The Bronx that is considered dangerous.

; {{visible anchor|Flatbushtuns}} : Flatbush, Brooklyn

; {{visible anchor|Fuhgeddabouditstan}} : This is in Brooklyn, where this place name sounds like the local pronunciation of the popular local expression "Forget about it."

; {{visible anchor|Gadzhooks}}

; {{visible anchor|Gaymenistan}} : The neighborhood of Chelsea, currently a very "gay" part of Manhattan. Also a play on Turkmenistan.

; {{visible anchor|Gribinez}} : The Hudson River. "gribenes" (conventional Yiddish-English transliteration) is an Eastern European Jewish delicacy, "cracklings from rendered chicken fat"Calvin Trillin, The Tummy Trilogy (1974) p. 166, alternate spelling: greven

; {{visible anchor|Halibutz}} : Halibut

; {{visible anchor|Harry Van Arsdale, Jr., Blvd.}} : This is the actual name of the road depicted and is the only real name on the map. According to Meyerowitz, the reason is simply that the name is inherently funny: "The name never failed to make me laugh when I approached it."

; {{visible anchor|Hiphopabad}} : Hip hop with -abad nameplace ending. This overlaps roughly with Bedford-Stuyvesant, the most heavily African-American neighborhood in Brooklyn.

; {{visible anchor|Irant}} and {{visible anchor|Irate}} : A reference to ranting and being irate, as well as to Iran and Iraq.

; {{visible anchor|Khaffeine}} : ... (Also note the jagged lines marking the territory, a reference to the effects of caffeine.)

; (Conn.) {{visible anchor|Khakis}} : Southwestern Connecticut, a wealthy area that could be considered a stronghold of WASP culture and the article of clothing often associated with them.

; {{visible anchor|Khandibar}} : A pun on candy bar and Kandahar.

; {{visible anchor|Khantstandit}} : "Can't stand it"

; {{visible anchor|Kharkeez}} : This is in southern Connecticut, with the translation being "car keys", a reference to the many NY workers who commute to the city from Connecticut.

; {{visible anchor|Khkhzks}}

; {{visible anchor|Khlintunisia}} : This is in Harlem, Manhattan, the "Khlintun" part being a reference to President Clinton's office location in Harlem. Also, "Tunisia" is a primarily Islamic/Arab country in northern Africa.

; {{visible anchor|Khouks}}

; {{visible anchor|Khurz}} : Curs and Kurds

; {{visible anchor|Kvetchnya}} : A pun on Chechnya and "kvetch".

; {{visible anchor|Le Frakhis}} : LeFrak City, a housing complex in Queens

; {{visible anchor|Lesbikhs}}

; {{visible anchor|Liberaci}} : Presumably referring to Morningside Heights, neighborhood of Columbia University, a primarily "liberal" institution.

; {{visible anchor|Lowrentistan}} : World Trade Center site{{cite news|title=New Yorkistan, Londonistan: how -istan became the new cliche|author=Stuart Jeffries|work=The Guardian|date=2007-06-04|url=http://guardian.co.uk./media/2007/jun/04/pressandpublishing.g2}}

; {{visible anchor|Lubavistan}} : Named after the Lubavitch branch of Hasidic Jews, most of whom live in Brooklyn.

; {{visible anchor|Moolahs}} : Wall Street and the Financial District of Manhattan. "moolah" is a common slang term for money and also probably alludes to "mullah".

; {{visible anchor|Mooshuhadeen}} : Combination of 'mujahideen' and 'moo-shu', referring respectively to the Arabic term for those involved in a struggle ("jihad") and to Chinatown and 'moo-shu' dishes in Chinese-American cuisine.

; {{visible anchor|Muzaks}}

; {{visible anchor|Mutterers}}

; {{visible anchor|Notsobad}} : The one area of the Bronx that is not considered dangerous to go to

; {{visible anchor|Nudniks}}: Yiddish for someone who is a pestering or irritating person. The New York Mets.

; {{visible anchor|Outer Perturbia}}

; {{visible anchor|Pashmina}} : A pashmina is a Kashmiri shawl often made of cashmere. This is in an affluent area of the city, where women can afford cashmere and may be drawn to the stylish use of pashminas.

; {{visible anchor|Perturbia}}

; {{visible anchor|Psychobabylon}} : Psychobabble

; {{visible anchor|Schmattahadeen}} : shmatta is Yiddish for "rag", also jocular for clothing in the fashion industry.

; {{visible anchor|Shatoosh}} : Shatoosh is a type of fine Kashmiri shawl made of antelope down hairs. It is located in the center of an affluent are of the city, where women can afford such a luxurious shawl.

; {{visible anchor|Snit}}

; {{visible anchor|Soporifiks}}

; {{visible anchor|Spit}}

; {{visible anchor|Stan}} : This is Staten Island, which is just plain "Stan" because of its nondescript nature. It could also be interpreted as the name of the camel standing there.

; {{visible anchor|Taxistan}} : This is the location of LaGuardia Airport in Queens, with its large contingent of taxis waiting for arriving passengers.

; {{visible anchor|The Potatoes}} : These islands (2 are North and South Brother Islands) are shaped much like potatoes, at least in the drawing.

; {{visible anchor|Trumpistan}} : an "area of future development", presumably by then-real estate developer and Apprentice star Donald Trump.

; {{visible anchor|Turban Sprawl}} : urban sprawl

; {{visible anchor|Unmitigated Gauls}}

; {{visible anchor|Upper Kvetchnya}} : Kvetch is Yiddish for "complain".

; {{visible anchor|Veryverybad}}

; {{visible anchor|Wretched Kurz}}

; {{visible anchor|Yhanks}} : This is the South Bronx, home of the New York Yankees and Yankee Stadium.

; {{visible anchor|Youdontunderstandistan}}

New Yorkistan

Place names

See also

References

Further reading