“What you need to do girl, is get your shit and get the fuck out of there”
--Woman speaking into her cellphone on Maiden Lane in Lower Manhattan
New Yorkers have a weird and misguided sense of anonymity. Because we’re surrounded by people all the time, and because it’s seen as inappropriate to talk to a stranger on the street (unless you have something really, REALLY witty to say), we all go around like we’re in our own little hermetically sealed mental bubbles. So when we’re outside on a sidewalk surrounded by people, we egoistically feel like we’re alone.
The cellphone of course worsened this trend substantially. Now people don’t have to be talking to their friends or colleagues right next to them; they can instead shout into their cellphones for all to hear, oblivious to the fact that their conversations are part of the public domain.
As a result, you can get enormous humor value out of walking the streets of New York and actually listening to what people say. When you listen to random New Yorkers, who can quickly oscillate from sarcastic, to witty, to friendly, to boneheadedly provincial all in a matter of a few short snippets of conversation, you can hear some unforgettably amusing things.
There’s an entire site dedicated to this unique New York City phenomenon, and it’s highly worth a read: Overheard in New York.
We’ll discuss the New Yorker’s unusual concept of anonymity in future posts as well.
--Woman speaking into her cellphone on Maiden Lane in Lower Manhattan
New Yorkers have a weird and misguided sense of anonymity. Because we’re surrounded by people all the time, and because it’s seen as inappropriate to talk to a stranger on the street (unless you have something really, REALLY witty to say), we all go around like we’re in our own little hermetically sealed mental bubbles. So when we’re outside on a sidewalk surrounded by people, we egoistically feel like we’re alone.
The cellphone of course worsened this trend substantially. Now people don’t have to be talking to their friends or colleagues right next to them; they can instead shout into their cellphones for all to hear, oblivious to the fact that their conversations are part of the public domain.
As a result, you can get enormous humor value out of walking the streets of New York and actually listening to what people say. When you listen to random New Yorkers, who can quickly oscillate from sarcastic, to witty, to friendly, to boneheadedly provincial all in a matter of a few short snippets of conversation, you can hear some unforgettably amusing things.
There’s an entire site dedicated to this unique New York City phenomenon, and it’s highly worth a read: Overheard in New York.
We’ll discuss the New Yorker’s unusual concept of anonymity in future posts as well.
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