Magyar News, 1992. szeptember-1993. augusztus (3. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1992-11-01 / 3. szám
THE GOLDEN ARCH WITH A HUNGARIAN ACCENT Many Hungarians had the dream to come to America. For those who couldn’t make it, America went to Hungary. Not the whole country Just some fast-food restaurant. It is a great experience, but also a great difference. In this case it is like putting up against each other in a competition the Statue of Liberty and on the other hand the Golden Arches. The tray liner we show here is to help you prepare for your next journey to Hungary. You have time now to learn the Hungarian words that go with America’s favorite hamburgers. HELLO IS A HUNGARIAN WORD People dressed in formal attire were crowding around some primitive telephones in the lobby of the Paris Opera in 1879 and were learning acoupleof Hungarian words. One was: hallod? - do you hear me? - the other one was: hallom -1 hear yog. Since it was very confusing to use the suffix it was dropped, and became: hallo. This is what a Hungarian says when he picks up the phone but for an English tongue it is more palatable to say hello. All this happened when Tivadar Puskás was demonstrating his new invention, the telephone exchange. Up to that time only two telephones were hooked up to each other on a pair of wires and if somebody had ten places to be connected with, then he had to have ten telephones too. At today’s rate you wouldn’t see the sky from the wires. After Paris, Budapest received her telephone exchange on May 1,1881. Another invention of Puskás was first put into service in Budapest in 1893. This was the telephonic newspaper, a wire news system, the forerunner of modem radio and television programming. The news was distributed to subscribers utilizing the telephone exchange, and this system continued till the wireless radio took its place. There is more to know about Puskás. He came to America to discuss the telephone exchange idea with Edison. He became Edison’s close associate and later became the European representative. But first Puskás constructed the telephone exchange in Boston in 1878, one year before the demonstration took place in the Paris Opera. Among all his inventions I would like to mention one more. The part of the river Danube which crosses the southern tip of the Carpathian Mountains used to be impassable with rapids of dangerous white water. Now, there is a channel suitable for seafaring ships cut into the rocks. Puskas’s underwater detonating device made it possible to blast out all that virgin rock, and therefore connect Budapest with the Black Sea. KEEP ON GOING It is not the first step Kristina Beres took when she entered the pageant “Miss Junior American-Fairfield County.” In 1988 she was “Miss Teen Venus,” and now she moved a notch higher. The four-day competition against 36 contestants was very successful including the talent segment where Kristina sang the “Ice Castles” and accompanied herself on the piano. The next step that we all are looking forward is the Miss Connecticut pageant. Congratulation Kristina and good luck. Page 7
