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Which is the second most polite city?
My current locale Zurich, it turns out, based on this field experiment. New York City of all places came in first, but I agree. There is so much human capital in the city one is always tempted to speak to strangers, given the reasonably high chance you will hear something magnificent in return. Third and fourth were Toronto and Berlin. In Europe Moscow and Bucharest were the least polite cities. Bombay fared worst of all.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 25, 2006 at 02:14 AM in Data Source | Permalink
Comments
Dear Mr. Cowen,
may I ask why you point your gentle readers to the Washington Times article, which does not mention Zurich's 2nd place and Berlin's 4th place either, but expresses it's schadenfreude about Paris coming in as miserable 19th?
With all due respect for this wonderful blog, I want to recommend these two links instead:
http://www.readersdigest.ca/mag/2006/07/polite.php
http://www.rd.com/content/openContent.do?contentId=27599
From my personal experience, U.S. citizens are among the most polite people of the world and I have not the slightest doubt that NYC's 1st place is well deserved. But I have my reservations, wether the Washington Times of all media outlets has anything to do with courtesy.
Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely,
Marian Wirth
pro bono cheerleader for the USA in Germany
;-)
Posted by: Marian Wirth at Jun 25, 2006 3:27:26 AM
I was truly astonished when I read about that study a few days ago. First of all, I wouldn't call Zurich very friendly at all (been living close all my life) and secondly, they claim Asian cities are unfriendly when I've made exactly the opposite experience as tourist. Most Swiss are much rather of the grumy-leave-me-alone type I'd say (wouldn't say I'm an exclusion to that).
It might seem to Americans that Zurich is friendly as most people can answer easy questions in English reasonably though (which might explain your human capital note?).
Posted by: A random swiss at Jun 25, 2006 8:07:02 AM
This is a culturally biased survey. Different people in different cultures have different ideas of what constitutes politeness in a public setting. I've never understood this obsession with holding doors in the English-speaking world, for example. As for the person who has dropped his papers, helping pick up the papers may be seen as an unwelcome intrusion, depending on the circumstances.
Posted by: Iraco at Jun 25, 2006 8:26:50 AM
To some extent people are polite in the West - it is easier to be polite in Zurich than in Bombay. But if you look at the questions, you see that it is very culturally biased.
Posted by: skay at Jun 26, 2006 1:06:58 AM
Not slamming doors in someone's face or helping someone who needs assistance is decency, not cultural bias. This might be why I steer clear of Chinatown in Toronto. I also suspect the score would have been substantially different if the reporters had gone there.
Posted by: Mark at Jun 26, 2006 10:33:02 AM
I am not at all surprised by NY's ranking. I have visited there 6-8 times in my life and every time found people to be very helpful, especially to confused-looking tourists. Where the idea came from that NY is an unfriendly place is beyond me. In the mid-town business district, in the South Bronx near Yankee stadium, in the East Village, on the Upper East Side, in the sugways--I've always encountered people willing to go a little out of there way to help me.
On the other hand, Berlin's high-ranking is a little mystifying. It's true that Berliners are less reserved than other Germans, but I would hardly characterize the resident sof the city as helpful. Maybe in Munich.
I have no experience with any of the non-N.A. or European cities on the list and so cannot speak to the charges of cultural bias.
Posted by: Thelonious_Nick at Jun 26, 2006 12:10:47 PM
People in New York are generally outgoing. However, sometimes
they can be a bit on the verbally rough side. The cursing
cabbie is not a complete myth.
I suspect that Bombay/Mumbai may get its ranking because of
the intensity and aggressiveness of the beggars there, unlike
anything I have seen anywhere .
Posted by: Barkley Rosser at Jun 26, 2006 3:38:30 PM
pfft. Even the article itself announces that it's completely unscientific, so why argue about it? Standards of politeness and "decency" are obviously highly culturally dependent--every traveller has stories of things that are considered polite back home but rude abroad or vice-versa. I'm sure New York would fail miserably if a Bombay paper had conducted the so-called study.
Posted by: Adam Bee at Jun 26, 2006 5:41:46 PM
I heard about this survey on the radio and was at first shocked that NY was first on the list. Then I realized that they were the only US city survyed...
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Posted by: levan at Sep 11, 2006 2:37:50 AM
This is a fvcking biased survey.
Holding doors open? This is only western culture. I'm from, mind you, not China and not Oriental, another asian country living in the fvcking politest city in the world. Yay. There is no such stupid fvcking culture in Asia. Giving up seat to pregnant ladies? Yes.
Mark: not slamming door in people's face? The fvcking door is spring-loaded. Otherwise, it would have stayed open when I opened it. Right? Even if it slammed on your ugly face, it's NOT because i f*cking push it.
So, why don't we do another test? Who in the f*cking NYC give up their seat to a buddhist monk? Answer: nobody.
If it is in Thailand, Japan, or Asia, they would have won by a great margin. Or how about who clap their hands and bow their head when they greet strangers? Fvcking NY would have flunked it so bad.
By the way, I've only lived in NYC for 2 years so far (15 years in Kansas or midwest where everybody is so nice) and everybody I meet (neighors, highschool kids on subway, cops, etc) cannot say two complete sentences without using the word fvck. So, excuse me. I think that fvcking NYC's culture is beginning to rub off on me. If anybody think NYC is the politest fvcking city in the world, come and live here for 6 months in fvcking Brooklyn. You'll see.
I know this post is months old. But, I can't fvcking resist anyway.
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