The Americano Dream
‘The grocery clerks snap at you. “It’s ham, sir, not hum,” they say. “If you want Tang, don’t say tongue!” You write this down and you remember this. At a meeting at the hospital, the director turns to you and asks, “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” You buy a book of American idioms and you find out what he means. When he asks a question during the next meeting, you are compelled to say, “The proof is in the pudding!” Everyone looks at you, puzzled.’
The Americano Dream: An immigrant’s daughter remembers her father’s assimilation (and what happens when you wear a Red Sox cap in Queens)
Angela M. Balcita