# Is NYC regarded as another country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 20, 2005, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015 "2005-06-20T08:21:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/61 "2005-06-25T07:45:52Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > We were at Venice Beach, and we went down to the water. I showed my friend and her friend the anemones in the tidepool (which he had never seen) and how they retracted when you touched them. My friend’s friend touched a few, and then began worrying that he’d been poisoned and was going to die. (Okay, technically he _was_ poisoned; but I’ve never heard of anyone suffering any ill effeccts from a tidepool anemone.) > > . Their “needles” won’t penetrate the average human’s skin. But do **NOT,** for the love of god, put your tongue in one. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/62 "2005-06-25T07:49:15Z")
Is that personal experience speaking? And if so, **why** would you put your tongue into the reach of an anemone? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/63 "2005-06-25T14:46:58Z")
> [@Little Nemo](#): > > think about all the stereotypes some non-Americans have about the United States - those are the same stereotypes some Americans have about New York City. We are _not_ fat. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/64 "2005-06-25T16:23:17Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > We are _not_ fat. Speak for yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/65 "2005-06-25T16:29:53Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > But do **NOT,** for the love of god, put your tongue in one. How do you know this? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/66 "2005-06-25T18:03:30Z")
Some marine biology student tried it, back in the '70s. Had to go to the hospital. Wasn’t me. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/67 "2005-06-26T00:49:05Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Speak for yourself. You are…_zaftig_. In a most delicious way. ---
**Author:** ![Sarah\_Woodruff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df788c/32.png) [@Sarah\_Woodruff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarah_Woodruff)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/68 "2005-06-26T10:20:03Z")
At this point I’ll just stick my head over the parapet and say, New York sounds like an _interesting_ scene. Other than that I got nothing…I’m just absorbing all the information offered, like a little non-New-Yorker sponge… The only first-hand observation I can make is that all the most interesting (American) cultural phenomena seem to emanate from New York City. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/69 "2005-06-26T10:33:50Z")
> [@gigi](#): > > That makes sense…my parents sold my childhood home to IBM (before the plant closed) for around $130K in the late 80s and it’s now been renovated and put on the market for $390K, presumably as a country home for NYCers (a two-hour commute seems unlikely??). Hardly. Here in the Chicago area 1 to 1-1/2 hour commutes are routine for Loop workers. I imagine NYC has two hour commuters. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/70 "2005-06-26T11:34:09Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Hardly. > > Here in the Chicago area 1 to 1-1/2 hour commutes are routine for Loop workers. I imagine NYC has two hour commuters. Commuting into Manhattan does not take two hours unless you are in one of those 3 fare zones at the edges of the borough. I have a 2 hour one-way commute and it is extreme. Most people look at me in horror when I tell them this. However, I live in Brooklyn and work on Long Island. That reminds me. . . I’d like to give a shout-out to the Long Island Railroad-- the worst commuter train system not running on coal to date. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/71 "2005-06-26T16:32:55Z")
The Chicago commuters are driving in from the 'burbs, right? Most NYCers take public transit. Only the bat-shit insane (a fairly sizeable minority here, incidentally) try to drive cars around the city. Park Slope, Brooklyn, to midtown Manhattan should take a half-hour or less, as long as the IRT is running properly. Plus the time it takes to walk to and from the stations – picking up your daily newspapers, coffee regular no sugar, bagel with a _schmear_, etc. – in a civilized fashion. One might even say, _European_ fashion. ---
**Author:** ![sunfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/96bed5/32.png) [@sunfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunfish)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/72 "2005-06-26T17:07:18Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Commuting into Manhattan does not take two hours unless you are in one of those 3 fare zones at the edges of the borough. I have a 2 hour one-way commute and it is extreme. Most people look at me in horror when I tell them this. However, I live in Brooklyn and work on Long Island. A 2-hour one-way commute within the bounds of NYC is a stretch, but there are people whose commute from the outer burbs runs that long. Just for grins I just checked the Metro-North schedule… the trip in to Grand Central from Dover Plains is 119 minutes, and from New Haven, 105 minutes. Getting in from Port Jervis to Penn Station via NJ Transit takes 137 minutes. And those travel times don’t take into account extra subway time if you need to go any distance from the train stations. So while there is no way I would ever want to do that myself, there are lunati- people who do it. 😉 > [@Kyla](#): > > In my experience, New Yorkers do tend to be a little more tightly wound than most people I am used to. For instance, my friend, the late, lamented (well, he’s still alive, but not on the Dope) manhattan once freaked me out a little when he got frustrated - in a pretty short period of time - with our group’s inability to decide what to see first at a museum one time, and walked away to just peruse on his own. Course, I’m a Californian, so my perspective comes from the opposite side of the spectrum. Life does go at a faster pace here, and New Yorkers have adapted to it by learning to make quick decisions - for everything. I am a pretty patient person myself, and have no trouble waiting calmly when circumstances are beyond my control (e.g., waiting on line at the DMV). But honestly, any discussion lasting more than a few minutes about something like where to go first in a museum (not exactly a decision of earth-shattering importance requiring extended negotiations, IMHO) would have me a little itchy too. Let’s just GO already! ---
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/73 "2005-06-26T17:27:58Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > And i think the New York in undisputably more important in terms of global finance and capital movements than Hollywood or Bollywood, and probably more important than just about any other city in the world. Just pointing out that London accounts for almost a third of daily trading in the foreign-exchange market, the world’s biggest, compared to about a fifth for the U.S. London also has a market for over-the-counter derivatives that’s about twice as big. [Cite](http://www.bis.org/publ/rpfx05t.pdf), pages 2 and 19. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2005, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/74 "2005-06-26T20:41:19Z")
> [@DrLoveGun](#): > > I’m pretty sure Texas still retains the right to do that, although I couldn’t cite it here. I for one fully support them doing just that. And they can take that moron with them. One of the classic urban legends this place has addressed. I don’t have the modem speed to do the requisite search, but people have cited the post-Civil War Supreme Court case, **based on a Texas incident** , that defines that **no** state, including Texas, has the right to secede. (Whether Congress could consent to, e.g., Hawaii declaring independence is debatable. Based on the Philippines Independence Act, I suspect it would be quite constitutional for a state to declare independence with the consent of the Federal government.) I believe that the previous thread addressing this debunked the idea that the Texas admissions act granted them that right. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/75 "2005-06-27T00:26:54Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Commuting into Manhattan does not take two hours unless you are in one of those 3 fare zones at the edges of the borough. I have a 2 hour one-way commute and it is extreme. Most people look at me in horror when I tell them this. However, I live in Brooklyn and work on Long Island. > . For people like yourself who have long train commutes, is it anywhere near as bad as having to drive for a comparable period of time? At least on the train you can read or sleep, whereas in the car you are like a slave to the wheel. Or is being on the train not as relaxing as it seems? ---
**Author:** ![iwakura43](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de0a6/32.png) [@iwakura43](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iwakura43)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/76 "2005-06-27T02:14:22Z")
I can’t speak for **Biggirl** , but I had a forty minute train commute to NYC last summer, and it wasn’t too bad. Some days I’d read, or listen to music; sometimes I’d just watch out the window. It’s worse if you have to switch trains–you certainly can’t fall asleep or concentrate on anything too too long, for fear of missing the switch. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2005, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/77 "2005-06-27T22:40:12Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > For people like yourself who have long train commutes, is it anywhere near as bad as having to drive for a comparable period of time? At least on the train you can read or sleep, whereas in the car you are like a slave to the wheel. Or is being on the train not as relaxing as it seems? I have to take the subway or bus to the Long Island Railroad, then switch trains in Jamaica (the station, not the island), then take another bus for about 3 miles AND THEN I have a 10 minute walk. Not pleasant at all. However, on the Long Island Rail Road we have a posse. After 3 years you get to see the same people every day. There are about 7 of us who ride in from Brooklyn and switch trains at Jamaica too. On the Ronkonkoma train there are several more regulars. It gets to be quite social. I’ve made good friends on the train. I’ve also had lots of fights on the train too-- so there you go. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2005, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015/78 "2005-06-28T00:22:48Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > The Chicago commuters are driving in from the 'burbs, right? Yes and no - some drive in, but most people who work in the Loop take mass transit. Those commute times I quoted are on commuter trains. Mine is about an hour and fifteen minutes - but then, I’m coming about 45 miles out. There are co-workers who have even longer daily commutes. > [@](#): > > Most NYCers take public transit. Only the bat-shit insane (a fairly sizeable minority here, incidentally) try to drive cars around the city. Ditto for downtown Chicago. Last statistics I heard, 400,000 people a day go to the Loop to work, but there are only about 60,000 parking spaces. You do the math. Back when I lived within the city limits my commute was still about an hour on mass transit - though admittedly I lived on the very edge of the city. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-nyc-regarded-as-another-country/309015.md?page=3)