"New York Tops Toronto"
That's the headline found today on Yahoo News. What's next, one asks? Headlines proclaiming "Sky found to be blue" or "Moon not made of cheese"?
New York tops Toronto? C'mon! Other than minor things like arts, culture, restaurants, nightlife, skyline, sports and business, what could they possibly beat us in?
Reading on, the article explains that a 'secret' survey was conducted to determine which cities had the most polite, courteous citizens. I'd have though Canadians would be shoo-ins. After all, most of us say 'excuse me' when someone has bumped into us. It's our thing.
But no, we come in behind both New York and Zurich. Per the article, by Lorrayne Anthony, "Undercover reporters - an equal number of men and women - recorded more than 2,000 tests of behaviour to come up with the list. Seventy per cent of those tested in Toronto took a moment to do the courteous thing, compared to 80 per cent in New York and 77 per cent in Zurich. Montreal was the only other Canadian city on the list, and ranked 21st, just below Amsterdam and slightly more polite than Helsinki and Manila. Fifty per cent of Montrealers tested were courteous."
The 'courteous' things involved holding doors, helping pick up dropped papers and saying 'thank you'. Apparently, the anxious use of 'excuse me' wasn't measured, explaining our poor showing. That, or the testers made the mistake of taking the TTC.
New York tops Toronto? C'mon! Other than minor things like arts, culture, restaurants, nightlife, skyline, sports and business, what could they possibly beat us in?
Reading on, the article explains that a 'secret' survey was conducted to determine which cities had the most polite, courteous citizens. I'd have though Canadians would be shoo-ins. After all, most of us say 'excuse me' when someone has bumped into us. It's our thing.
But no, we come in behind both New York and Zurich. Per the article, by Lorrayne Anthony, "Undercover reporters - an equal number of men and women - recorded more than 2,000 tests of behaviour to come up with the list. Seventy per cent of those tested in Toronto took a moment to do the courteous thing, compared to 80 per cent in New York and 77 per cent in Zurich. Montreal was the only other Canadian city on the list, and ranked 21st, just below Amsterdam and slightly more polite than Helsinki and Manila. Fifty per cent of Montrealers tested were courteous."
The 'courteous' things involved holding doors, helping pick up dropped papers and saying 'thank you'. Apparently, the anxious use of 'excuse me' wasn't measured, explaining our poor showing. That, or the testers made the mistake of taking the TTC.
posted by Jen @ 7:29 p.m.
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