traveler2005

I would have seen the P.S. as helpful additional information. How do we learn if no one ever corrects us? I appreciate information as long as it isn't rude or degrading - and, even then, it might be helpful.

I am from the Midwest and find that the media tends to perpetuate stereotypes of rude New Yorkers or Parisians for that matter.

However, having visited both places as a tourist, I found only kind helpful locals. In NY a few years ago, a friend and I were waiting on a bus and a local not only explained that it required exact change, but gave my friend some coins. And when we were in NYC last summer with some other friends who had never been there before, we found the same reception. It might be tiresome to have tourists ask silly questions whose answers may seem obvious, but I've had very good experience whenever I've needed help.

Some years back, but after 9/11, I took my son to Washington DC over spring break. We were eating at a McDonald's and a local man surprised us by thanking us for visiting. I suppose tourists and locals have a symbiotic relationship. Tourists help feed the economy.

tenthumbs

I have encountered rude people in New York. I have encountered them in DC, in Paris, in Rome, in Orlando, in Boston, and in my own little hometown in the mountains of Northern California. New York does not have a monopoly on them. They are everywhere.

ziggypop

like my grade school teacher said, its not so much what you say, its how you say it

Aduchamp1

There are 17 million people in the NY Metropolitan area. If we did not how to get along we wouldn't be the safest large city in the US, we would be killing each other.

POMAH

"the OP would not be able to get a NYer to understand the reference is obviously incorrect as everyone (including the responder) recognized the reference"
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on this board, of seasoned travelers, yes. Generally Americans would not know what a Metro is. Neither would they know Kilometers, kilograms, or shoe sizes. Ask an American how tall he/she is you wont get 1.7 meters.
When in Canada, a man on my tour asked a guard where the bathroom was and got a confused look. A kid at a Wendy's asked me what pop I want. I complained to front desk my room was too cold, and wanted temp set to 68, and got a blank stare.

POMAH

"montereybob on Jun 28, 11 at 12:49 PM
To add even further confusion, if you ask where the subway is while in California, you'll get directed to a sandwich shop."
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Where in CA? LA has a subway, doesnt it? But ifcourse no one takes it anywhere as everyone drives.

nytraveler

TC -

Your first line said you don't want to start a skirmish - but clearly that is exactly what you intended to do. Now you have done it and you are oh so amazed that it haas happened. Why start a thread that is merely critical - not informative - if you don;t want controversy?

Bowsprit

TC- Ask for whatever you want when you arrive: train, metro, subway, tube, oyster, T. Whatever. Good luck and do let us know where you end up.

TC

I will simply repeat my post of June 29.

tracys2cents

If you want to hear people go ape, just post about your trip to "Cali" or your questions about "Frisco".

And it's not because "oh gee, we're just trying to help you, if you come to San Francisco nobody will know what you mean if you say Frisco".

Aduchamp1

They also get mad in Camden, NJ when you ask where do you insert the enema.

happytrailstoyou

What? You say, "I really don't mean to start a skirmish here," and then proceed to create a tempest in a teapot.

Aduchamp1

In NYC, when you begin your comment with, "Not for nothing," it means here comes something that is not going to be pretty.

clarkgriswold

I agree they were just trying to be helpful. New Yorkers are always so quick to assist tourists, with their friendly smiles and wealth of informative tips.

Austin

Audchamp, here in Texas you can begin or end your comment with "bless his/her heart..." and then get away with an insult.

I learned that Capri (as the isle of...) is pronounced "cop ree". I said that when discussing my recent trip there and was told that in the US "we don't say it that way" and that I should pronounce it the US way when I'm here.

eliza61

If someone on the street stops me and ask me where the "metro' is, I'll say "you mean the subway"? Don't like the answer, ask some one else.

Come on, you're undoubtably lost and you're going to cop an attitude because some one corrects you? Gimme a break. I went to Paris this spring and butchered some of the names of the train stops, thankfully kindly Parisians gently corrected me and instructed me on the correct pronuciation.

Why the heck would you even want to go around town calling some thing by it's incorrect name?

TC

Eliza, you prove my point. If someone asks for the Metro, you would ask, "do you mean the subway?". They would say, "yes" and you would point them in the correct direction. So why all the fuss that the poor tourist absolutely needs to know the correct terminology or they will be given wrong directions by locals - sent off to NJ or CT or the like? That misdirection just doesn't happen, which is why I made the observation that snipping at a poster here when they asked about a hotel near the 28th Street "metro" entrance was unnecessary.

And all this hoo-ha about being sent to a sandwich shop if ones asks for subway directions in the wrong city.......wouldn't one say can you direct me to A subway (for lunch) and can you direct me to THE subway (for transportation)? How do NYers known if someone wants lunch or a train? If they have to make an inquiry to clarify the two, then why so difficult to make an inquiry to differentiate if one asks for the Metro?

Aduchamp1

Like I said at the begining, I will call you EC, for no other particular reason than I am too lazy to find out your real name. If that is OK with you TT?

happytrailstoyou

Thanks for this self righteous rant.

hawksbill

>Audchamp, here in Texas you can begin or end your comment with
>"bless his/her heart..." and then get away with an insult.

In some New York circles, you can start your comment with "No disrespect, but..." and achieve a similar effect.

Also, there was a time earlier in my life when I lived in New York, but had no idea that what we called a subway was called a Metro in certain other places. If someone had asked me where the Metro was, I would have had no idea what they meant. So I think one does the tourist a service by teaching him or her what the thing is called, to facilitate any future direction-giving.

If someone asked me today in New York where the Metro stop was, I'd ask them to confirm that they meant the subway. Maybe they meant Metro North, or the bus, or even some other weird thing that "Metro" means where they come from.