(no subject)

[randomness]

Two incidents of unprovoked rudeness from middle-aged white male strangers remind me of why Boston has the brusque reputation it does.

It's slightly different from New York, where getting in someone's way is a cardinal sin. As dirque once put it, "Just don't waste my time," is the rule in New York.

Maybe it's the in-person analogy to driving habits in the two cities: in New York, most of the obnoxious driving behavior seems to be from someone trying to getting ahead. In Boston, it often looks like random spite.

It probably also helps that middle-aged white men are the "default person" here, so what they do sets the image and model for the place.

Comments

[taura-g.livejournal.com]

Er... Welcome Home?

Glad we are in the same local map area at least.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

We could certainly arrange to be in the same room at some point. Around a table with food on it, for example. :)

[taura-g.livejournal.com]

That would be cool! I think I have time open next week? How about you?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I could write about my Black girl's experience with rudeness from middle-aged White men in Boston, but I will merely commiserate with you.

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

Thanks. One of them wasn't even directed at me but I was there to see it.

[quietann.livejournal.com]

I was actually MORE comfortable driving in NYC (near Times Square anyway) than I am driving in Boston. In NYC people paid attention to traffic lights and didn't pull so many boneheaded aggressive moves. Then again, it is way easier to manage traffic on a planned grid system of mostly one way streets than it is on a bunch of random former cowpaths...

[r-ness.livejournal.com]

I completely agree. The grid in Manhattan does impose some order. Even Brooklyn or Queens, with their multiple colliding grids, are still more orderly than Boston. The Bronx isn't bad either. I think the wider avenues help there. I haven't driven much in Staten Island but I suspect that isn't much different from New Jersey.

That said, I'm not sure Boston can use the lack of grid as an excuse, as London drivers are both faster and more orderly than Boston drivers.

I'm not sure how Dublin drivers are as I haven't driven in Ireland yet.

[achinhibitor.livejournal.com]

What were the particular details of the rudenesses? On top of how people behave differently in different places (in Boston, they don't wait for people to get off the subway car before trying to cram themselves into the subway car), there are different standards for what is permitted and what is rude. But yeah, New England has been famous for cold behavior since colonial times.