You got a problem with that?

Smithsonian Magazine ^ | April 2008 | Joan Acocella

[forkinsocket]

In my experience, many people believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans, and this may actually be true. The majority of people who live in New York City were not born here. Indeed, more than a third were not born in the United States. New Yorkers, then, are people who left another place and came here, looking for something, which suggests that the population is preselected for higher energy and ambition.

Also for a willingness to forgo basic comforts. I grew up in California, where even middle-income people have a patio on which they can eat breakfast and where almost everyone has a car. In New York, only upper-income people enjoy those amenities. The others would like to share them. I sometimes get into conversations with taxi drivers, and since most of them are new to the city, I often ask them what they miss about the place they came from. Almost always, they name very ordinary pleasures: a slower pace of life, a café where they could sit around and talk to friends, a street where they could play kickball without getting run over. Those who miss these things enough will go back home. That means that the rest of us, statistically, are more high-strung, hungry and intent on long-term gains—traits that quite possibly correlate with intelligence.

But I think it's also possible that New Yorkers just appear smarter, because they make less separation between private and public life. That is, they act on the street as they do in private. In the United States today, public behavior is ruled by a kind of compulsory cheer that people probably picked up from television and advertising and that coats their transactions in a smooth, shiny glaze, making them seem empty-headed.

[forkinsocket]

.

[Pistolshot]

In my experience, many people believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans

Had to stop right there.

[usurper]

Well, this wins the award for silliest posting of the day.

[Sooth2222]

"The last time anybody made a list of the top hundred character attributes of New Yorkers, common sense snuck in at number 79." -Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

[Doomonyou]

I grew up in California, where even middle-income people have a patio on which they can eat breakfast and where almost everyone has a car. In New York, only upper-income people enjoy those amenities.

Then I guess that makes most NY's stupider than Californians.

[JoeSixPack1]

This moron like all the other re-located morons thinks NY & NYC is simply Manhattan.

Maybe she should invest in a train ride to Queens, Brooklyn Bronx or even that other place, Staten Island.

And if she asks politely, I’ll show her my families old house in Queens, with the patio, driveway and garage on a street where they still play stickball.

But what do i know, i was a native.

[elpadre]

NY is where criminals run to hide from prying eyes as do illegal aliens who entered lawfully or unlawfully and become lost in a sea of humanity and impossible to find. And not just from Mexico but from all over the world. People who wish to engage in immoral and strange lifestyles who wouldn’t dare in their own homes find a welcoming environment. It is an “anything goes” town.

[Neoliberalnot]

One of NY’s senators is a crooked lawyer from Arkansas who barely passed residential requirements.

[GOPologist]

I'm a New Yorker; and I strongly believe that many of us are the dumbest Americans in the U.S.

For example; they elected H. Clinton. I guess, “Stupid is as stupid does.” (Gump)

[TalBlack]

“Smarter”? I’d doubt that based upon my life experience. But Ny’ers are more aggressive and quicker to act and react in certain ways. They are also pretty fast to fight. On balance I’d say that more of them shows at the surface than a lot of other people.

[GOPologist]

I'm a New Yorker; and I strongly believe that many of us are the dumbest Americans in the U.S.

For example; they elected H. Clinton. I guess, “Stupid is as stupid does.” (Gump)

[GOPologist]

Sorry for repeat. See, I said New Yorkers are dumb. LOL

[isom35]

Joan who?

[Liberty Valance]

Problem? ... what problem? Somebody's girdle's too tight ...

[GOPologist]

**********Joan Acocella
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joan B. Acocella (nee Ross, born 1945) is an American journalist who is a dance critic for The New Yorker. She has written several books on dance, literature, and psychology.********

[hinckley buzzard]

In my experience, many people believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans, and this may actually be true.

Although the "many people" are probably all New Yorkers, since I have never heard anyone from anywhere else express this opinion, I agree it may well be true. I have never met a bigger bunch of smart-asses and wise-guys anywhere else in the world.

[M203M4]

Manhattan is where you go to make twice the salary and live for three times the cost. I know one post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University who slept in a recliner he bought for his office, showered at the gym, and prepared and ate all his meals in the lunch room, because monthly rent would have been 70% of his monthly salary (and he was not interested in a 2 hour commute). That is a definition of “intelligence” I am unfamiliar with.

[oh8eleven]

But what do i know, i was a native.
Gerittsen Beach for me.

[x]

Joan Acocella writes on dance for the New Yorker. She also edited Nijinsky's diaries. Her book on Willa Cather was pretty good as well.

This Smithsonian piece is one of the things writers have to churn out to pay their bills. Don't judge her on the basis of one "off the top of my head" article.

But I think it's also possible that New Yorkers just appear smarter, because they make less separation between private and public life. That is, they act on the street as they do in private.

Even Eliot Spitzer?

[singfreedom]

I didn't get much farther. I stopped at the point where the author excused everyday, expected in most areas, civility as “acting differently in public than you do in your home”. I just couldn't go there—and I respect the Smithsonian Mag much less for spewing this drivel.

[Inyo-Mono]

In the United States today, public behavior is ruled by a kind of compulsory cheer that people probably picked up from television and advertising and that coats their transactions in a smooth, shiny glaze, making them seem empty-headed.

Smile when you say that mister (hand on pistol in holster)!

[M203M4]

http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/costofliving/costofliving.html?step=form&x=48&y=17

[EricT.]

In my experience, many people believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans, and this may actually be true.

Two words:
Chuck Schumer.

[Cyber Liberty]

Wow! It took me a little bit to get the full flavor of the writer’s arrogance, but it was worth the effort! Time for me to go back to drawing rocket blueprints with my “Indian Red” crayon....

[#1CTYankee]

Her in Connecticut the average medium income is so high because of Fairfield county.

The New York is so high because the smartest woman in the world lives there.

Ha!

[Toddsterpatriot]

The majority of people who live in New York City were not born here. Indeed, more than a third were not born in the United States. New Yorkers, then, are people who left another place and came here, looking for something, which suggests that the population is preselected for higher energy and ambition.

If they're so smart, why haven't they moved out of New York City?

[Age of Reason]

New Yorkers, then, are people who left another place and came here . . . which suggests that the population is preselected for higher energy and ambition.

It could also mean they couldn't make it where they came from, so they went to NY.

[tbw2]

Dance critic? How smart do you have to be to say “he can’t dance”?

[BenLurkin]

many people believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans, and this may actually be true.

No way.

[Popman]

Fixed the obvious error in the first sentence....

In my experience, many people in New York believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans, and this may actually be true, but it's not.

...they are just have bigger mouths....

[Mobile Vulgus]

This woman is an idiot that is so pleased she lives in New York, it makes he feel so cool, that she has to take the same human reactions that occur in EVERY city in America and act as if it is special to New York!

What a snob this twit is.

[Vision]

In my experience, many people believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans

Who in the HELL believes that? Wow.

[Vision]

If life in NYC is so great, why are all the NYers moving out, going south, and generally tainting the county? Stay where you are, it's so wonderful right? Stay where you are.

[cowdog77]

f they’re so smart, why haven’t they moved out of New York City?”
______________________________
I was wondering the same thing....New York is the #1 target of terrorists everywhere, as history has proven time and time again. Duh.

[RichInOC]

No, actually, New Yorkers think New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans. Well, some of them do. Some of them are, some of them decidedly are not.

[Toddsterpatriot]

Plus, it's full of New Yorkers. Great reason to move, if you ask me.

[Mariebl]

many people believe that New Yorkers are smarter than other Americans

Other New Yorkers, right?

[BluH2o]

There was a poster once, a map highlighting Manhattan and the various attractions it offers. Bordering states Connecticut and New Jersey were shown as quaint perhaps, but not anywhere anyone would want to live. Anything west of the Delaware water gap in western NJ was Indian country. That pretty much sums up the viewpoint of the typical resident of NYC & Brooklyn.