I’m a recent transplant to NYC, by way of England. I adore this city and the people that populate it.
Here, you can walk down the street and people will just tell you “I love your shirt!”Back home, giving an unsolicited compliment would be unheard of!
But as much as I love New Yorkers, I’ve noticed that you guys have a few choice phrases that I hear repeatedly.
I think it all stems from my novice New Yorker statements.
Sure, I may look like one from a distance; I have my keys on a carabiner, clipped to the belt loop of my jeans, jangling against my gym membership with each step I take, signaling to all and sundry that I live in this city.
I frequently adopt a monochromatic wardrobe and favor an all-black ensemble. The only giveaway to my foreigner status comes when I open my mouth, and a British accent comes spilling out. The different vowel sounds that come with being brought up in the UK conjure forth the same few sentences that New Yorkers love to repeat.
Any non-New York native reading this list should have been met with these key expressions during the first few months of their tenure in the city.
“Welcome to New York”
This is usually said to me after I gripe about some minor grievance with the city. Be it the idea of cockroaches (which are not a common sight back in the UK, let me tell you), long subway wait times, the “it’s showtime!” guys who dance on the subway and leave me with a fear of being kicked in the face during my morning commute.No matter what I might mention, it’s usually met with a shrug and a facetious “welcome to New York!” and absolutely no sympathy.
“You’ve got to go to Shake Shack!”
For reasons I have yet to determine, New Yorkers are enamored with Shake Shack.During my first New York trip, I was admonished for not having gone to Shake Shack and was urged to do so as the soonest possible moment. Let me tell you - I went to Shake Shack.
I got the Shroom Burger.
That shit burnt my mouth, such as the heat of the molten cheese inside the mushroom. I was irate. “Never again!” I said, “New York you have burnt me!”
The fries are really good though.
“Don’t go there; here’s where you’ve got to go”
New Yorkers know better.You could have gone to the hippest, most underground speakeasy in the back of a fridge/laundromat and when you tell them about it, you ’re told your choice of venue was fine but not as good as this place you have to go to.
‘You’re not a New Yorker till...”
I’ve been told I’m not a New Yorker till I’ve been mugged, squashed a cockroach with my hand, disposed of a mouse, been to this-this-and-this place, seen Woody Allen (I really don’t want to be a New Yorker if seeing Woody Allen is the criteria; give me the damn cockroach any day of the week!) or seen any number of New York-based celebrity out and about and just not given a shit.
New Yorkers say a fuckton of stuff but here’s the thing - New Yorkers continuously defy the stereotype of unfriendliness in my book.
They’re friendly; they’re eager, and they always want to welcome me to their city and tell me the best places to go. New Yorkers don’t deserve the grouchy brush they’re painted with.
That’s one of the reasons I adore living here.