Well, I always knew this

[dianeduane]

But then I'm a New Yorker.  :) Reader's Digest survey finds Big Apple to be world's politest city

The magazine sent reporters "undercover" to 36 cities in 35 countries to measure courtesy. New York was the only American city on the list. ...The magazine's politeness police gave three types of tests to more than 2,000 unwitting participants. The reporters walked into buildings to see if the people in front of them would hold the door open; bought small items in stores and recorded whether the salespeople said "thank you"; and dropped a folder full of papers in busy locations to see if anyone would help pick them up. New Yorkers turned out to be the politest: 90 percent held the door open, 19 out of 20 store clerks said "thank you," and 63 percent of men and 47 percent of women helped with the flying papers. In short, four out of five New Yorkers passed the courtesy test.

My people. Gotta love 'em.

Comments

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

When I finally visited New York back in '02, I was amazed at how polite people were, how clean the streets were (for a big metropolis), and how respectful drivers were of pedestrians. And this was right after Christmas, when the streets were packed with tourists and there was slush underfoot. I felt much safer in Manhattan than in my hometown, alas. (I live in Baltimore, home of John Waters, big hair, and Homicide.)

[nelka35.livejournal.com]

Yep. *proudly and with a smile*

[jeeperstseepers.livejournal.com]

Yep, that sounds about right. We have such an undeserved bad rep.

[muppetk.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I always thought that our city is far more polite than it's rep, but studies like that make me wonder. If the study was done by a european magazine, would the criteria have been different? Would other things have been considered more important in terms of politeness? *shrug* Sorry, I have an implanted grain of salt, it's a habit that comes from reading medical studies. Man, there is a ridiculous number of bad studies out there.

[agawa-jean.livejournal.com]

I wonder what the critera were for choosing the cities? Either way, interesting article.

[conuly]

Maybe that explains why tourists are always surprised when people ask them where they're going so as to help them...?

Of course, I don't do that to be polite. I do that so they stop congregating in the middle of the sidewalk with their damn maps. The sooner they're walking away, the happier I am :)

[crissachappell.livejournal.com]

I couldn't agree more....

I bet Miami was the rudest city!