The June 26 issue of New York Magazine includes a new Urban Etiquette Handbook. While much of it is aimed at locals only - there are some sections that would be most useful for travelers to NYC - including Rules of the Road (sidewalks), Subways & Cabs and Dining.

I think a must read for anyone going to NYC so they understand what's going on and how best to navigate the differences between their own home towns and a place with 20 million very busy people.

Just go to www.newyorkmetro.com and search for urban etiquette.

Definitely worth the read but I think the tourists I've seen in NYC have had much better manners than the locals for the most part. Just try riding the trains around 3 PM when the high schools let out - or don't, it's probably safer to wait until 4:30 PM.

Am not suggesting that tourists have bad manners. Just that expectations and ways of doing things can vary. This can help tourists understand how to do things in NYC - and why locals do many of the things they do.

(ANd perhaps answer some of the queries that are asked here several times per week - like about luggage on subways.)

I'm glad they address comp items in restaurants. This happens to us often at a certain restaurant -- we always include the value of the item when factoring our tip. I think it is only fair to the server.

Thanks for directing my attention to this amusing and informative article.

I've never been to NYC and must say, this was just common sense. I (small town midwesterner) could have written such advice.... are people really this dumb.

Interesting...was this a wedding gift from/for Nicole?

SaheC,

Thanks for your response, which helps clarify why an Etiquette Handbook is needed.

I doubt that many other small town mid-westerners would agree with you that it is polite to call others "dumb."

Please post the link to the handbook on etiquette which you wrote.

HTTY

HTTY,
I find your response strange. I didn't call anyone dumb. I asked the question if there are really travelers that don't know these things.

The suggestions in the article are common sense manners in all parts of the world. And yes, it would be appropriate to call anyone that breaks these rules dumb.

I thought the article was cute. I was just pointing out that it applies everywhere, not just NYC.

I lived in NYC for thirty years and recognized references to many social situations that are common in NYC but not in Seattle, where I now live.

Thanks for reminding us that you used two pejoratives to put down the article: "dumb" and "common sense."

OK HTTY...
Your bent on being offened, so I'll not bother to clarify my previous comments.

BTW:
"dumb" - modified people (those targeted with the handbook) not the article
"common sense" - since when is that a "put down"?

I haven't read the article yet, but I do hope that it refers to those "dumb" tourists, the ones without "common sense" who are walking right in front of you & stop on a dime to gawk at a building.

It's all you can do to avoid walking up their backs!

I'm one of your "dumb" people because I found the article informative and entertaining.

To say that advice is "sensible" is a compliment, but to say it is "common sense" is to suggest that is nothing more that a statement of what is natively obvious to everybody (except those who, unlike you, are "dumb").

Nytraveler has much to offer; others have only snide remarks (for which they refuse to take responsibility). That is what I find offensive.

What I find offensive is when someone takes another posters seemingly innocent opinion and uses it to pick a fight against them. Chill out, HTTY.

nytraveler,

Great article - I loved it. Most of it applies here in DC as well (although you never see fights for a taxi...)

re. the controversy - I wonder (help from rural dwellers here, please), if a city dweller went to a very rural area and didn't: 1) wave at someone on a lonely highway, 2) leave their bike/car UNLOCKED at the general store, 3) close a fence gate if they passed through someone's property...would they be considered "dumb" or just lack "common sense"??

happytrailstoyou - I don't care if you are offended by me, however you continue to try to make my comments into something they were not. I think the article was funny - which is obviously it's satirical intent. It is not meant to be informative, but if you were informed by it, I'm glad.

I'm sure nytraveler has much to offer. I enjoyed his/her post. In responding to it, I am merely making this point: isn't it sad that there obviously are enough people that DON'T have common sense (displayed in article)that this article strikes a cord? When I said "are people really this dumb?" I meant - how could there really be people that don't realize how their actions inconvenience others. Even I (someone that only visits urban areas three or four times each year)would know this. That's what makes the article satire.

I will not take responsibility for YOUR perception that my remarks were snide, for the intent was never as you have tried to make it out to be.

Now I'm sure you will need to have the last word, and I'm sure that word will be an attempt to make my comments malicious...enjoy.

Gee, I feel initiated. This is the first time I've been personally attacked on Fodors.

A Bronx Cheer for dumb common sense.

The article is amusing. I've seen similar things in regional magazines in DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, London and Boston. I don't see anything in the sections mentioned that is singularly unique to NYC.