Brooklyn Bridge

Bountiful beautiful bridges have been built since way back when. They are modern marvels which exemplify both form and function. These simple yet complex structures that span the planet are also symbolic. As you’ll see, they are often referenced in idiomatic expressions everywhere, from Egypt to Ecuador. But none are quite as iconic as the one in lower Manhattan that links the island to the borough of Brooklyn. We’ll break down The Brooklyn Bridge on this week’s episode of FYI.

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Bountiful beautiful bridges have been built since way back when they are Modern Marvels which exemplify both Form and Function these simple yet complex structures that span the planet are also symbolic as you'll see they are often referenced in idiomatic expressions everywhere from Egypt to Ecuador but none are quite as iconic as the one in lower Manhattan that links the island to the borough of Brooklyn we'll break down the Brooklyn Bridge on this week's episode of f why I welcome to for your info English you got it you got it hello hello hello and welcome to this another exciting edition of FYI for your English and today folks we are gonna cross the Brooklyn Bridge one of the most famous landmarks in one of the most famous cities New York as we pronounce it New York New York the city's so nice they named it twice all right Amigos well before we get started I just wanted to thank each and every one of you FYI has been growing tremendously not only are we on the cusp of a half a million downloads but also folks we are in the top charts I'm happy to announce that we are number 26 in Spain when it comes to language learning in the education category we are number 58. this is in Spain that's awesome guys just to give you an idea if you're in the top 200 you are definitely in good shape so thank you thank you thank you fyiers as you know this show could never grow without your help so remember if you want to help out spread the word tell your friends there's a fun way to learn English while you learn about a new topic every single week and I want to send a special shout out to all my friends in Argentina Argentina we are number 83 in language learning so what's up Amigos wherever you're tuning in from and if you haven't rated the show go over and rate it on your favorite podcast platform also as many of you know I do a lot of other things as we say I wear many hats and just recently I release to my fifth book with my partner Damian Moya it's called this book is the[ __ ] and I know what you're thinking if you don't get the title well listen to this little ad we put together but wait a second it just dawned on me we don't have a title um no that's too generic this book is I think we've milked that idea emote I've got one foreign that's right this book is the [ __ ] it is the third in the milk collection so if you have the best seller this book is the milk and the follow-up which is the re milk which has been rebranded as this book is the milk too well this is the third in The Saga and it's called this book is the [ __ ] if you want to pick up a copy you can pick it up at Von dienda.com or as we say wherever fine books are sold and it's a book for people who hate English and people who love English it's for everybody and another way you can support the show is not just buying my books but also you can join our community we've got an amazing community over on patreon where we're learning every single week so aside from this episode you can get a bonus episode every week you can get private classes with me if you're in our Interstellar level you can get weekly review classes with me if you're in our super duper level and also PDFs and tons of other things plus you have access to me 24 7 but as I always tell my students don't expect me to answer you at 3am I'll answer you at a Godly hour if you just want to find out more and see what it's about go to patreon.com Alberto Alonso and you can find out more and if you want a free sample just Reach Out di me algo and I'll send you some free samples and I'm always looking for suggestions for future episodes so make sure you reach out no matter what tell me what you think of the show tell me you want some free samples whatever you want to say I'd love to hear from you and thank you thank you thank you thank you for choosing to learn English with me and thank you for all the constant support and I want to send a shout out to all my patrons especially my super duper students Javier Paco Roberto David Jose Maria Mila and Alex and don't forget about my Interstellar students the ones that get a private class with me every month and those are Carmen Lina Issa bako and Elgar again more information at patreon.com Alberto Alonso alright so let's take a look at this intro over here as always I try to teach you some vocabulary in each intro the first word was Bountiful that means a lot it's another way of saying a lot or many Bountiful beautiful bridges have been built since way back when that's another way of saying since a long time ago then I said these are Modern Marvels you want me to let you in on a little secret I got the idea idea for FYI from a show that used to be on the History Channel called Modern Marvels see if you can find it on YouTube search for Modern Marvels the History Channel then I said they exemplify both Form and Function and this is very important when it comes to architecture is it aesthetically beautiful great but is it useful can we use it does it have a function and this is both it's beautiful in Form and Function then I said these simple yet complex structures that span the planet are also symbolic and to Spanish I use that word on purpose you'll see it later on it's used often with Bridges and then I wrapped up saying as you'll see Como veras they are often referenced in idiomatic expressions everywhere and in the bonus part we're going to take a look at all those idiomatic expressions that we use that have to do with Bridges and then I used some more ease in there I said Egypt to Ecuador now I'm not going to teach you how to pronounce Ecuador but Egypt I've heard a lot of students say Egypt just think of the song Walk Like an Egyptian is Egypt but then I said none are quite as iconic as the one in lower Manhattan that links the island to the borough of Brooklyn and let's see I'm gonna test your New York trivia we've looked at this on past episodes what are the five boroughs that make up New York City Manhattan come on that's easy the next one Brooklyn this is the one that the Brooklyn Bridge connects then you've got Queens then you've got Staten Island a little New York trivia to get you going and then I said we'll break down the Brooklyn Bridge and to bring breakdown is to simplify something I guess we should start at the beginning what was happening in the early 19th century in New York City well it was a crowded place there were a lot of people moving there from all over the world so obviously Transportation was a huge issue they needed to be able to move people around easily and quickly and up until then they were crossing into Manhattan on a ferry there's just one problem in the winter the water freezes over so they could spend hours just trying to cross that little river because if you think about it it's not that wide we'll get into the statistics a little bit later but just imagine being on a ferry Crossing into Manhattan because you've got to go to work and there you are you're stuck in the ice and you call up your boss even though they didn't have cell phones back then you say hey boss I'm stuck in the ice I guess that's not a good good way to break the ice okay all right bad but what I'm getting at is New York City needed to prepare to move all these people around or else it would be chaotic and this as much as it's a story about a bridge it's also a story about a family the Roebling family and it took three roeblings to get this done and there was a lot of tragedy which we'll look at as well but it all started with John robling then his son Washington Roebling took over and it was eventually finished by Emily robling so it's the story of a dad a son and the daughter-in-law slash wife and three people and many other people it took to get this bridge done but if you were listening carefully I just told you the bridge was finished by a woman Emily robling and we're going to talk a lot about her because it wouldn't have been done without any of those three roeblings and well of course a little bribery and bribes are sobernos and we'll talk about that in the bonus part as well the dark side as I call it so we'll start with Grandpa or the dad the Man of Steel no no no I don't mean like Superman I mean steel was his business he was a german-born American Civil Engineer and he had a business in Trenton where he sold wire rope and as an engineer he realized that the bridge is up till that point were using hemp and I think you say hemp is no it's not cardamomo oh no no no wait I got it it's kanyamo I always mix those words up well the ropes were made of hemp and there was just one problem the hemp would Fray so after years they would realize that these Bridges weren't as strong as they were so he had to find a way to make bridges that would be stronger and obviously last longer and he found a way to take these wires these metal wires and kind of twist them around each other to make one strong metal wire it's very common these days but back then it was revolutionary it was groundbreaking and he ran a business in Trenton Trenton is the capital of New Jersey and it's called Roebling and Sons wire rope so that was a little background I mean he was already working with the materials he needed to work with in order to build a groundbreaking bridge and he had tons of credentials already he had designed the Niagara Falls suspension bridge the Ohio River Bridge which is now called the John a Roebling suspension bridge and if you take a look at these two Bridges honestly you will definitely see similarities between the Niagara Falls suspension bridge and the Ohio River Bridge among other projects he worked on but you could tell that he already had his style his ideas that were different from all the other ones that we were seeing when it came to bridge construction and he even had to stop doing what he was doing for a period while many Americans because something was going on any history Buffs know what was going on around that time that's right the American Civil War so his as with many other people's efforts were placed elsewhere but as we know the Civil War ended and when the dust settled he went back to work on what he loved to do building and designing Bridges and as I said he was ambitious because nobody had used steel wire in their suspension bridge so it was the first of its kind and not just the technology but the size since it was a stronger Bridge it could be made to be longer and it was 1.5 times longer than any Bridge ever built to that point another key element are the towers at the time they were the tallest structures in the Western Hemisphere I think everybody in the world recognizes those Towers their Stone towers and they're in the neo-gothic style and speaking of bridges we're not going to get into an architect texture lesson here but this is a suspension bridge there are Arch Bridges beam bridges truss bridges cantilever girder but the one we're talking about the one that John robling pioneered is the steel wire suspension bridge and construction started on the Brooklyn Bridge in 1869. it wasn't completed until 1883 but it wasn't so simple not at all if you did the math it took 14 years to build this masterpiece and it took a lot of lives including John's in fact John wasn't even there for the construction he died before it even began construction he started designing the project in 1867 and on June 28 1869 he was standing at the edge of a dark and he was doing some tests and a fairy came and crushed his foot they had to amputate his toes and he was a bit of a tough guy so he refused further medical treatment well due to this his condition deteriorated and he died on July 22nd 1869 of tetanus it was 24 days after the accident so before he passed away he named his son Washington Roebling as the chief engineer of the project and as I said earlier he didn't finish the project either well what happened to Washington Roebling then his son well he suffered from something that was very common in those days specially if you were a sand hog and a sand hog is the term that they use for people who who dig tunnels underground it's not a very pleasant job as we'll find out and unfortunately Washington his son Washington Roebling died as well he got the bends and he got very very sick the Benz is called decompression syndrome it's also a Radiohead song the bends and we'll talk about it in the bonus part because many people who worked on the project suffered from the bends and it took him a while to die he was sick for a long time it wasn't like his father who got sick in just a few weeks and died but he was completely incapacitated the only thing that worked was his brain and in 1883 his wife Emily took over the project at first she was just his eyes and ears he couldn't move so he was bedridden so he would use a telescope to look out the window and check on the progress of the bridge and his wife Emily she would go and make sure that everything he needed to be done got done she was his eyes and ears until she eventually had to take over everything when he passed so two casualties already casualties are not coincidences casualties are bajas or perdidas and we're talking about the two guys who helped build it the good news is Emily did not die not before the construction of the bridge was completed but you can just imagine the working conditions 14 years working underground and they were using dynamite and they were using a new technology where they sent these caissons down and a case on it sounds like a French word it's like a little airtight compartment where the workers would be lowered into the water and they would be able to dig under there again from being Underground round all day many of them suffered from the bends and others died due to accidents on the construction site and after 14 years and three roeblings and the death of many other construction workers around 25 are what the estimates are the bridge was finally completed and it was against all oddsico and as we'll see in the bonus part there was even some illegal activity to get this bridge made and then opening day came it was May 24 1883 and at the time it opened up it was the longest suspension bridge in the world the main span and remember to span is to cross so the span is the part of the bridge where you walk or drive that was 486 0.3 meters well I shouldn't say was is continues to be the deck the deck is 38.7 meters and that's the height that's above the mean high water level and mean is borde but in this case it's another way of saying average and the Brooklyn bridge held the title as the longest bridge in the world for 20 years until it was beaten by its neighbor the Williamsburg Bridge the opening day ceremony was presided over by president Chester A Arthur and New York Governor Grover Cleveland who would eventually go on to be president Emily robling was given the first ride over the completed Bridge she had a rooster in her hand while a rooster is a symbol of Victory and within 24 hours more than a hundred and fifty thousand people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge there was a military band celebratory cannons were firing off in the background and they even had a one-hour fireworks display it's very American I know there were some speeches and just before midnight The Bridge opened to the public and it's been open ever since that first day we said a hundred and fifty thousand people walked across the bridge well how many people crossed the Brooklyn Bridge per day nowadays they say an average of about a hundred and sixteen thousand Vehicles three thousand bikers and thirty thousand pedestrians crossed the Brooklyn Bridge per day and we're talking about a bridge that opened in 1883. it's still relevant as far as Form and Function New York has a lot of bridges but I think this is our most iconic one and it's gone through many changes throughout the years of course when it first opened it was for horse-drawn carriages street car rail that's very European by the way and also it had pedestrian traffic in 1950 it underwent a redesign and now they added six lanes garilis and the Brooklyn Bridge has been renovated several times since then in the 50s the 80s and even more recently in the 2010s and anybody who's ever walked anywhere near this bridge you don't even have to cross it you'll know that it has a certain magic a certain Aura it has its own personality and I'm gonna tell you all about it in the bonus part because I've crossed it a million times but as the expression goes we'll cross that bridge when we get to it I sure hope you'll join us in the bonus episode of today's f why I foreign