Low lighting, sticky floors, and dirty toilets – New York dive bars are famous for many things, but perhaps not as guardians of the English language.
But enter Trigger Smith, owner of Continental in Manhattan’s East Village, who has stepped up to the pass by banning customers from saying the world ‘literally’.
Trigger, who has been operating the Astor Place establishment since 1991, put up a sign forbidding use of the term last week, with the aim being to ‘stop Kardashianism.’
Trigger Smith, owner of Continental bar in Manhattan’s East Village, has banned customers from using the word literally with this tongue-in-cheek sign
The tongue-in-cheek sign informs patrons that anyone caught using the term will be given five minutes to finish their drink before being ejected.
Anyone caught starting a sentence with it ‘must leave immediately!’
Speaking with Grub Street, Trigger said that while the poster was meant as a joke, he really is no fan of people using the term.
‘It’s not just millennials,’ he says. ‘Now you hear newscasters using ‘literally’ every three minutes on the Sunday news shows.
‘What’s annoying is people aren’t even aware they’re saying it. How could you be so unaware of your words that it’s coming out every couple minutes?’
Trigger is also not a fan of other much-used phrases, including ‘It’s all good,’ ‘You know what I’m saying?’ and ‘My bad’.
Continental has made a name for itself over the years as a dive bar staple where Iggy Pop used to drink and where Joey Ramone played his final live show in 2000.
In more recent years it has become better known for its drinks deal of five shots of anything for $10 – although recently upped to $12.
However, the changing face of the neighborhood has seen it declare bankruptcy twice, most recently in 2015, and it is now set to close in the summer.
It’s final opening will be on June 30, after which it will be demolished along with the neighboring shops and developed into a ’boutique office building’.
Writing on the bar’s website at the time the closure was announced, Trigger said: ‘It’s truly heartbreaking that we and so many Old Skool places are falling by the wayside but unless you own your building that’s how it goes.
‘For going on 27 years this Bar has been my life. First as a Rock Club and then as a Dive Bar and I’ve loved every minute of it.’