suzanne

Just to clarify...I didn't mean that it was funny that tourists wait for the light to change, I found it funny that they wait ON the curb, while NYers stand in the street a few feet from the curb.

midwestern

Just teasing right back, suzanne!

Oh, I stood there on the corner once... lo about 15 years ago. Believe me when I say 1st time NY tourists DO take that attitude back to our towns. You should see the look on OUR local faces when we ignore those "Walk/Don't Walk" lights!

Helen K

Yes, this is a generalization, but fat people in Manhattan are a dead giveaway for tourists, especially if they're wearing some sort of tacky "exercise" outfit. So tip #1 is lose weight.

poester1

This is hilarious, and yet -- oh so true! You poor New Yorkers having to put up with us tourists. What you're saying is "all" true! I was there last August and can't wait to get there again this August, what an awesome, incredible city. I too found myself looking up in amazement a good part of the time. I have never been so excited about being in another city as I was in NY. Actually, I was thrilled and was a real quick learner when it came to crossing the streets. Only took me once and I loved the idea of not having to wait -- heck if the coast is clear -- GO! I was soooo very pleasantly surprised at how friendly and helpful everyone was. I'm from So. CA and I think a good percentage of the people out here are by far less friendly. You New Yorkers have been getting a bad rap about being rude for too long!

aussie

I too was in NYC last August and I found a dead giveaway was when I said to the locals "how ya goin". Mind you, I don't think they thought I was a tourist from another country, I think thay thought I was from another planet!

Rose

To Suzanne - I think what you are forgetting is that your city needs us as much as we need your city. Laughing and forming opinions is not the way to heal.

Annie

Come on Rose, no one is trying to insult anyone here, this is a FUN thread - and if you look carefully, most of us are also laughing at ourselves! Just about everyone has done some silly "tourist" thing and it's fun to share both what we have done and what we have SEEN! Relax, no one is being mean.

cindy

Oh, dear - I'm headed off to NYC in a few weeks to visit my daughter and son-in-law, and now I realize I'm going to be SO obvious. I carry my cel phone in a fanny pack, and my absolutely most comfortable shoes (wide enough to handle my orthotics) happen to be white sneakers. Oh, God, the shame. Please be nice to me anyway. I promise not to look at maps in the middle of the street. I'm not very good with maps anyway.

Ellen

What's the big problem with jeans and white sneakers? Jerry Seinfeld, the prototypical New Yorker, wears them all the time.

Carol

Men can probably get away with sneakers better than women, i.e., going for that Jerry Seinfeld look. But women wearing white sneakers, especially Keds type, screams "tourist." Now there is nothing wrong with wearing white sneakers and looking like a tourist (after all, New York is full of tourists); but remember, the original question in this thread was how to not look like a tourist.

New Yawk

Please correct me if I'm wrong... but I STILL see professional women in NY wear white sneakers... including the "keds look"... as they commute everyday, carrying their dress shoes in a work bag.

SZ

I work in Times Square and before 9/11, the throngs of fanny-pack-wearin' tourists used to drive me nuts. But when they stopped coming, I missed them. In October I saw a bunch of people getting off a tour bus from Michigan and I wanted to hug them all.

So really -- don't sweat it. People who look like tourists are a comforting sight these days. Thanks for visiting.

Traveler

I just got back from NYC, been there twice before. I have to say that worrying about looking like a tourist is futile. Of course I wouldn't be caught dead in a fanny pack w/white sneakers ANYWHERE, but that's just me.

We were getting off the subway, and you can always tell a New Yorker by their stern faces as they walk like hyped up little drones on speed through the subway tunnels. We had to laugh, they looked so funny, rushing about. And yes, they walk right in front of buses and cabs all the time, guess that's just another "badge" of honor they wear to let everyone know that they're not a tourist! I had to laugh at the New Yorker who said she felt out of place in SFO dressed all in black, it's so true, everyplace is different. But NYC needs tourists and it's nice to see that some of them appreciate visitors with dollars to spend in their city.

I love NYC, wouldn't want to live there but it's nice to visit. There's alot to do, but I couldn't stand living on top of people like they do. We went to ground zero, and I could tell that some New Yorkers were offended by people from all over the world visiting the sight. I heard several comments about the "disrespectful" tourists. What they have to remember is that what happened is a National tragedy, it happened on American Soil, so it belongs to all Americans as part of OUR history. It was inspiring to see all the poems and signs from all nationalities expressing their support and grief. If some cold, bitter natives of New York think that's a bad thing, then I think that says alot about them. And it wasn't tourists selling pictures of the towers on fire, it was real New Yorkers on every corner making a profit off the whole thing.

I don't think we should divide ourselves further. Yes we all know New Yorkers are a little secular and brimming with pride. I was in London last year and their was a table of New Yorkers who couldn't stop bragging about their city. They were loud and brazen, their accents thick with the undeniable New Yaawk way of talking. I thought they were funny, probably the way they look at tourists from other parts of the country. That's what's funny about the whole thread.

I found most New Yorkers to be friendly and outgoing. It was nice to see them appreciate the visitors to their city, and I was more than happy to spend my money helping a great city regain her glory.

Vicki

So... you're telling me if my family drags their little suitcases from Penn Station to our Times Square hotel, everyone will laugh at us??? tee hee. We are very much looking forward to our trip; we'll stay out of your way!

Jenna

Whoever said that thing about the purse straps making you look like a tourist are lunatics. I saw many, many people wearing their straps across their bodies and they were so obviously from nyc. I think that some new york people just want to stir up some imaginary trouble if they are even from the city at all

NotfromNYC

Don't worry what NYC residents think about your attire.They dress like they are going to a funeral every day, I think many of them are allergic to color! Ok, so some things tourists wear are quite horrible but that doesn't make them bad people just bad dressers.Hey I thought NYC was supposed to lighten up and be more friendly??? Guess that some of them still will always have a negative attitude about people from other places but I know that most are happy to see tourists and that's good to know. Who wants to go somewhere where they're not welcome???

:>

The right clothes, the right colors, and leave plaids, shorts and tennies at the border. How many time must we go over this same ground!

Philip

Whoever said Jerry Seinfeld is the prototype New Yorker is way off. I have many friends and none of them are as whiny and shallow as the Seinfeld characters. I cringe when I see that show.

Ellen

Sorry, Philip, I didn't mean to offend with the Seinfeld comment. New Yorkers could never survive if they were as whiny and clueless as the characters on Seinfeld or Friends. Perhaps it was foolish of me to assume that these characters dressed like typical New Yorkers!

Kelly

I guess Philip doesn't like sterotypes any better than the rest of us. I could easily pigeonhole nyc people as snobs, even with their grating accents that sound so uneducated. Snobs that pay dearly to live in sardine cans. But I won't go there because I think that only represents a handful of new york city folks. I'm sure that many of them love the infusion of people from all over into their town, they remember all too well the 70s and 80s when the city was a hell hole and no one wanted to spend precious vacation time there. I could care less what people dress like when they visit my city, I'm not that shallow, and to those that are-your opinion doesn't matter because you don't matter. Your one of the gray people of this world, and you will fade into the shadows like the ugly soul that you are.