New York is the politest city in the world? Sorry, but this is just impossible. People get shot to death in New York for saying "thank you", how the hell could it possibly be the "politest" city?
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[span id="intelliTXT"][font color="#000000" face="Verdana,Sans-serif" size="2"]New York City tops in courtesy, says Reader's Digest[/font][/span]
[span id="intelliTXT"] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]By Ellen Wulfhorst[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York, despite a reputation as a fast-moving, tough-talking town, ranked as the world's most polite major city, according to a survey released on Tuesday.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]Outscoring large cities in 35 countries, New York proved best in three tests of courtesy, according to the survey by Reader's Digest.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]Reporters for the magazine conducted a "door test," to see who would hold open a door, a "document drop" to see who would help pick up dropped papers and a "service test" to measure if salesclerks said thank you for a purchase.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]Four out of five New Yorkers passed the courtesy tests, the magazine reported.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]"It certainly contradicts the popular stereotype that a lot of people have about New York," said Conrad Kiechel, international editorial director for the Pleasantville, N.Y.-based magazine.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]Specifically, 90 percent of New Yorkers passed the door test, 55 percent passed the document drop and 19 out of 20 clerks passed the service test.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]Coming in a close second was Zurich at 77 percent, Toronto at 70 percent, and Berlin, Sao Paulo and Zagreb, Croatia, all with 68 percent.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]Following down the list were Auckland, Warsaw, Mexico City, Stockholm, Budapest, Madrid, Prague, Vienna, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Lisbon, London, Paris, Amsterdam, Helsinki, Manila, Milan, Sydney, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Ljubljana, Jakarta, Taipei, Moscow, Singapore, Seoul, Kuala Lumpur, Bucharest and Mumbai.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]The more than 2,000 tests of behavior showed that people under 40 were more courteous than those over 40, men were more polite to other men and women were more polite to other women.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]The region that most lacked courtesy was Asia, where eight out of nine cities tested finished in the bottom 11, Reader's Digest said.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]It conducted the tests in the most populous cities in 35 nations worldwide from late February to mid-March.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]People around the world tended to offer the same explanation for their polite behavior, Kiechel said.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]"People said they were polite because they had been brought up to be that way," he said.[/font][/font][/p] [font face="Verdana,Sans-serif"][font color="black" size="2"]The study is published in Reader's Digest's July issue of its 50 editions worldwide.[/font][/font][/p][/span]
[a href="vny!://reuters.myway.com/article/20060621/2006-06-21T121746Z_01_N20458017_RTRIDST_0_ODD-LIFE-POLITENESS-DC.html"]Link to obviously impossible story[/a]