10. New York City is all there is to New York: Although residents of New York City would have you believe this statement is true, it’s not. Believe it or not, the state of New York is fairly large and contains lots of mountains, rivers and lakes, none of which are in Central Park. There’s even Amish in many parts of New York state. I may have mentioned them here once or twice. I’m not ashamed to say I may run off to join them.
9. New York City is just Manhattan: While Manhattan is what you see in most movies, NYC is much more with the other four boroughs each having distinct differences and personalities. Manhattan however thinks it’s better than everywhere else, and it’s right.
8. All New Yorkers speak with a Brooklyn accent: Fuggedda boud it! Dat ain’t true, and if you say it is I’ll punch you in da nose! You know who speaks with a Brooklyn accent? Some of the people from Brooklyn.
7. New Yorkers are rude: Only the jerks say that, so shut up.
6. New York is the biggest city in the world! By population it’s actually the 8th largest after places like Jakarta, Manila, and Karachi. It is however the largest by geographic area. If you think New York is crowded, imagine how crowded those other cities with smaller geography but larger populations are!
5. New Yorkers talk fast: Ok, this one is true. I’ve traveled to other parts of our country and other countries in the world and New Yorkers, both from the city and upstate seem a little more tightly wound than others. Admittedly, I can barely stand to wait for other people to finish their looong, slooow sentences. If a I were to read my blog aloud this whole post would only take 12 seconds. That’s why I don’t do a podcast.
4. The City That Never Sleeps: That’s why New Yorkers are so irritable. They’re exhausted.
3. New York is the Concrete Jungle: Yeah, a lot of New York City does not have a lot of vegetation, but then you’ve got lush, green Central Park which is larger than Belgium and Lichtenstein combined. The rest of the state north of New York is practically a giant Amazon rain forest.
2. Everyone in New York always drinks $6 lattes: That’s not true. Sometimes we drink the $8 ones when we’re really thirsty.
1. New York is full of violence and crime: When I was younger and I’d meet people from other places they would ask, “Do you get mugged a lot?” These were the people who assumed New York was just ‘the city’. Actually I’d bet that New York has less crime than a lot of other places if only because you never know who might decide to kick the crap out of you at any given moment. In fact, the only people ISIS is afraid of are New Yorkers, (and maybe a few biker gangs from Texas).
These are only jokes. Like I said, I live upstate with the Amish and the trees. If you want to follow a real blog about life in New York City check out Mary Lane Townsend’s New York Cliche. It’s a great blog and she also posts some awesomely spectacular pictures on Instagram.
Have a great Tuesday! ~Phil