# Rude New Yorkers? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 11, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717 "2008-12-11T15:17:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/81 "2008-12-13T17:24:09Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > What people don’t like to say about NYC is that it is very, very inconvenient on certain levels. Most people commute significant distances daily; few people own cars so suburban style weekend chore blitzes are impossible (you cannot, for instance, shop for the month or even the week in one go, if you have to walk/take the bus home.) As much as we love our public transportation, trains and busses on occasion do run late/break down/inexplicably never arrive. Hence the NYC love of the yiddish term “schlep” - an annoyingly arduous trip. (Newark airport, ugh, it’s such a schlep). Especially in the case of public transit, it really is possible to have a huge number of people running late all at the same time. > > So its not only or entirely that New Yorkers have less time to waste than elsewhere - its just that a lot of their time is routinely wasted. Couldn’t say about NYC as I’ve never been there, but where Paris is concerned, I have become convinced there’s a positive feedback effect going on. Regular guy takes the subway or walks the business district, sees everyone but him is frowning, impatient and in a hurry, figures _he’s_ the weird one, tries to act surly, impatient and hurried to blend in, influences another FNG. That’s the only sensible reason I could come up with to explain how a person can be sweet, patient and friendly at a café terrasse, yet 5 minutes later instantly turn into some sort of very understated berserker the second they’re past the ticketmunching thingy. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/82 "2008-12-13T17:54:20Z")
What **Kobal** said fits in with what I said, about the need to buy into the common myth, with an added dimension: In NY it’s not a fear of being “the weird one” - NYers are far less outwardly conformists than Parisians - but a fear of not being psychically armed, not being a survivor, not _deserving_ to get by. Courting the evil eye, perhaps; being the nail that sticks out and gets hammered. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/83 "2008-12-13T18:05:42Z")
> [@Beware\_of\_Doug](#): > > What **Kobal** said fits in with what I said, about the need to buy into the common myth, with an added dimension: In NY it’s not a fear of being “the weird one” - NYers are far less outwardly conformists than Parisians - but a fear of not being psychically armed, not being a survivor, not _deserving_ to get by. Courting the evil eye, perhaps; being the nail that sticks out and gets hammered. God, you should really write a book or something. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/84 "2008-12-13T18:18:15Z")
> [@Some\_FNG](#): > > I gotta ask the real New Yorkers this one little question- > What are you doing \*right now \*that is so damned important that your collective behaviour makes the city so damned hectic and known as ‘fast-paced’? If you don’t wanna be fast-paced wotinhell are you doin _here_? Excuse me, but no one your age who doesn’t need a cane or a walker needs to move that damn slow. You move like you keep forgetting exactly which foot should come after which. There a reason for that? I’m not saying you gotta put on your Nike’s and run, but you’re on a sidewalk. Not a side-meander or a side-stroll. So WALK already! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/85 "2008-12-13T19:44:37Z")
Would it be asking you business walkers too much to put a little bounce and flow into your gait? Most of you jerk along like robot cockroaches - knees locked, mouths set tight, constantly almost-slamming into one another as if you’re under remote control. Put a little Jerome Robbins into it, why don’t cha. Longer looser strides. An elegant sidestep every so often. If you must have tension, at least let it be _artistic_ tension. ---
**Author:** ![Audrey\_Levins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Audrey\_Levins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Audrey_Levins)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/86 "2008-12-14T03:00:25Z")
When I worked downtown here at a tourist bar, my most common observation about not just New Yorkers, but about people from the East Coast region in general, is the general brusqueness of their manner. I grew up in South Texas; you generally smile at people, say, “How are you,” or “Hello,” or something to that effect and _then_ say, “I’d like a Drink X, please.” East Coasters just walk up, unsmilingly, may or may not even make eye contact, and say, “Drink X.” Or “I’ll have/I want/I’ll take Drink X.” At first I thought it was rude. But then if I engaged them in conversation I realized that they weren’t being rude; their idea of “normal” and mine are just different. They don’t “waste time” with excessive politeness/friendliness, while Texans sort of pride themselves on it. My SO is from Connecticut, and sometimes I still feel the urge to “cover” for him when we’re at a restaurant or bar or whatever, because while I know he isn’t trying to be rude, his manner can strike people that way…and the excessive friendliness can sometimes get on his nerves. (Which is when I laugh at him and point out the fact that he’s sworn he’ll never live in Connecticut again because “it’s too f–king cold” so he might as well get over it.) He says that at some point he’ll take me “back home” with him and we’ll visit the Big Apple…and I will be intrigued to see if my observations hold true. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/87 "2008-12-14T03:03:53Z")
Saying please or looking up doesn’t waste a fraction of a second or a sliver of breath. It’s got to be some attitude that what others consider “politeness” is either a sign of weakness or a hypocritical fake-niceness. Not doing so must be a ritual of faith, a bow to the common myth. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/88 "2008-12-14T03:09:04Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > God, you should really write a book or something. Considering that New York - and more importantly, well-acculturated New Yorkers - control the book business, who exactly would publish it? ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/89 "2008-12-16T15:03:20Z")
> [@seodoa](#): > > No you don’t. You live in a real combined administrative district consisting of 23 special wards (each with a [level of autonomy](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%9C%B0%E6%96%B9%E8%87%AA%E6%B2%BB%E6%B3%95) similar to that of independent [cities](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%89%B9%E5%88%A5%E5%8C%BA)) and several smaller towns and cities. The [“City”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokyo_City) of [Tokyo](http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC%E5%B8%82) was abolished in 1943 when the prefectural and city governments were merged. There is no city called Tokyo and there hasn’t been for over 60 years. > > [/pedantic] Yeah, but at least I can get real sushi here! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![SpasticKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@SpasticKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpasticKitty)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717/90 "2008-12-16T18:41:43Z")
I agree with a lot of the posters here who have said that New Yorkers aren’t necessarily rude, just _direct_. My husband grew up on Long Island, and the bluntness kind of took me by surprise the first few times he took me home to visit his family and friends. I got used to it though, and I’ve grown to like the direct attitudes and the _accents_! I love the way my 8-year-old SIL says “coffee” and “orange.” My husband used to have a New Yawker accent too, but six years of living in West Virginia has changed that. His dad says he sounds like “a fuckin’ redneck” and I have to say I agree. He has more of a West Virginia accent than I do, and I grew up here! He still drives like a New Yorker though, and does not have much patience for slowpokes and drivers who hold up traffic on the main road near our house to let other cars out. I have to tell him all the time to chill out–laying on the horn and shouting obscenities is not going to make the other guy go any faster! Old habits die hard, I guess. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-new-yorkers/476717.md?page=4)