Ok, so the other day I was listening to Howard Stern. He mentioned two terms: butterface and bronsky. I found out what butterface means. But what the heck is a bronsky? My husband and I are curious.

We're going to New York soon for a spring trip and we want to be "up" on the hip language.

-Darvy

Having asked a friend, born and raised in NYC, about butterface and bronksy..butterface is a woman with a great body but an ugly face. bronsky might have something to do with being from the bronx or it is just a Howard Stern Word.
Personally, I avoid listening to or looking at Howard Stern, so I am not sure if this will help you.
But don't expect New Yorkers to speak a language all their own and I have a feeling that 'hip' is not what this would be called

OK, I have a New Yorkese question of my own: how do you correctly use the phrase "not for nothing, but", and what does it imply? I have heard it used the following way: Joy Behar was interviewing the porn star Ron Jeremy on The View, and she said, "Not for nothing, but you're not the handsomest guy in the world." Any input?

The question most likely isn't "What is a bronsky?" but "WHO is Bronski?" This link will answer the latter:

www.zmag.org/bios/homepage.cfm?authorID=56

Although I can't even guess how Stern used the term, he was probably quoting this writer. I'm sure Stern feels affinity for someone with the in-your-face style of Bronski.

That's a tricky one, but it's a sort of sidling way of introducing a potentially unwanted comment, a little like saying "I know you didn't ask me, and it's probably silly to say this, but....." Is there anyone who can explain how you parse the syntax, precisely, or explain where the double neg. phrase came from?

Otherwise, there are so many non-"natives" in New York that identifying actual New York-ese has gotten more and more difficult. It still grates on me to hear people talking about standing ON line or waiting ON someone or getting change OF a dollar, instead of standing IN line and waiting FOR someone or getting change FOR a dollar, but that has spread far from Manhattan now, and you can hear it from coast to coast.

Woops, someone posted between E and me -- I was responding requot;not for nothing."

PaulRabe - that link seems like it's unrelated to what I'm inquiring about????

Just as I suspected -- you're all a bunch of prudes.

A bronsky is when you go to a topless bar and place your face between a woman's large breasts and she slaps them back and forth so her breasts hit against your cheeks.

Not sure if Al is right, but it sure sounds like Howard Stern

Al's definition is the one I've heard also.

actually cassandra is incorrect. technically speaking, "not for nothing, but" is used to imply a type of humility that is not present in the speaker (as proven by the information that will follow) but that the speaker acknowledges should be at least noted. So you will hear someone say, "Not for nothing, but I would NEVER go out looking like that on my first date with that guy." Implying that the action by subject of the observation is below the standards of the speaker.

as for cassandra's other observation, not for nothing, but I can ALWAYS tell when i'm in the presence of a true-blue new yorker. having been born and raised in NYC, having gone to school in brooklyn, you know even when someone used to be from ny many, many years ago. if it grates on cassandra well, not for nothing, but ...

I've always heard it as Al's definition.

Al - you're a dreamboat baby! Kiss kiss! I wanna have your kids! Thanks so much!

Given the context that I was given, this is definitely what Stern was referring to.

Thanks!

-Darvy

Flopmeister, would you mind breaking the expression out for us a little more?

For example, could your example...
"Not for nothing, but I would NEVER go out looking like that on my first date with that guy."

Be broken out like this...?
"I'm not trying to insult what you right now, but forget about it I probably should insult you: I would NEVER go out looking like that on my first date with that guy."

Is that right? God this is complex.

-Darvy

Darvy
It might not be so complex if you were born speaking it It is always hard when learning a new language-LOL!
Cassandra, I cannot tell you how many times I was corrected when I first came to NYC from California, when I would say I had ones instead of saying singles($).

I've always heard it as Bromsky, not Bronsky. But, either way, it means what Al said. It isn't a new phrase as I've heard that term used since my high school days in Staten Island, 20 years ago.

I have always understood "Not for nothing, but..." to mean "I am not happy that I have to give you this information for free, but since it would be rude of me to collect, I'll tell you anyway."

After telling the bit of information, I have always heard the person follow it up with "Know what I mean?"

Thanks, flopmeister. Notfirnuttin but what I actually meant is that just because you hear someone who doesn't sound like the traditional and/or stereotyped N'Yawkah doesn't mean they haven't lived there for a long time.

I have noticed one sure sign: pronouncing the name of the main island as Minhaat'n (esp. that first syllable), not man-hat-ten.

"Notfernuttin, but dem jeans make yer ass look fat".

Not for nothing.

Butterface gets its name from this type of conversation:

"Wow, what a hot body on that chick"

"Yeah I know, but her face...."

but her face = butterface