Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I wouldn't say NYers are any less or anymore tougher than other people. My experience with people from NYC is that many of them have a "just do it" mentality and tend to be more "to the point".
sorry but this happens in most big cities in america. Street smats is street smarts. Anybody from any city can have it. When I was living in chicago I saw some crazy stuff that nobody would want to see but that doesn't make me different or more "tougher" than anyone else from any other city just because it was in chicago.
-mas23-
Yep, some dude tried to break in our house at like 4 in the morning but the alarm scared him off. It taught us to turn the alarm on more.
What I am try to say is that, growing up in NYC you learn certain things. They call it street smarts. You aren't afraid at the time, because you just react. Instinct takes over. You learn many things as a young child and you just expand on them as you get older.
- you learn certain things
- you aren't afraid all the time
- instinct is...instinct
- you learn as a child and increase the depth of your knowledge over time
Ditto for growing up in all major cities, if not all cities.
Lack of fear in-and-of itself doesn't prevent anything from happening to you. There are a lot of deceased NYers who died in neighborhoods around the country while being fearless.
"Tough" people, for whatever that's worth in adulthood, generally don't sit around editorializing about how tough they are. Those are the people you need to be least concerned with.
It's almost akin to someone touting all the fabulous things there are to do in a 24/7 urban paradise, but seemingly never being off the internet long enough to do them.
sorry but this happens in most big cities in america. Street smats is street smarts. Anybody from any city can have it. When I was living in chicago I saw some crazy stuff that nobody would want to see but that doesn't make me different or more "tougher" than anyone else from any other city just because it was in chicago.
-mas23-
although NYC is distinct in some respects. Apart from 9/11, there were the major blackouts that I lived through in the 60s and 70s, especially the first one when it had never happened before. I was only a kid at the time, but I have the memories of what my Dad, and my Uncle working in a very tall building, experienced. Not all cities experienced these.
I was also very sickly as a child. I later learned that the federal government experimented on us back in the 50s. Yes, specifically NYC. They spread around viruses in the subways, and with exhaust from taxis, to see what the reactions to these germs would be.
although NYC is distinct in some respects. Apart from 9/11, there were the major blackouts that I lived through in the 60s and 70s, especially the first one when it had never happened before. I was only a kid at the time, but I have the memories of what my Dad, and my Uncle working in a very tall building, experienced. Not all cities experienced these.
ok i must say that is something most cities do not expirience but as far as street smarts, you can get that from living in any city
although NYC is distinct in some respects. Apart from 9/11, there were the major blackouts that I lived through in the 60s and 70s, especially the first one when it had never happened before. I was only a kid at the time, but I have the memories of what my Dad, and my Uncle working in a very tall building, experienced. Not all cities experienced these.
I was also very sickly as a child. I later learned that the federal government experimented on us back in the 50s. Yes, specifically NYC. They spread around viruses in the subways, and with exhaust from taxis, to see what the reactions to these germs would be.
Did you know this?
I wasn't even born
but for real, that seems kinda nasty and sad.
I must admit, at some point you have to admire NYC's sheer, blind faith in who they are (or who they think they are supposed to be).
With that said, I remember swaths of kids from the BX & Harlem moving into my neighborhood in Jersey when I was younger. Most were cool, but there would be a large percentage who truly believed their previous NYC address made them untouchable. Walking & talking like they owned the block, trying to establish a dominate presence & they only been in the neighborhood a month.
Needless tho say, these types went home with no sneakers & no lunch money in their pockets. We called it the "sock hop". Hilarious........
My point being, yes, a dense, diverse environment like NYC (or anywhere of the like) will most certainly teach you to be adept & thicken your skin. But it also creates many facsimiles & people who try & present a particular facade. It becomes clear however, the impostors from the fakes quite quickly. I've met scores of NYC natives who are nothing more than a thin veneer of a personality, and it's usually the ones who boast & try to showout.
When I was in the military humping 60 pound packs on twenty mile road marches through 115 degree heat (Mohave desert), it was the NYC'ers that were crying like school girls....I found the tough talkers were all talk till they got knocked out with one punch..ONE PUNCH WONDERS is how we refered to the psuedo bad a.. talking New Yorkers..'
"New York is a bunch of tough guys" that's a myth at best.LOL
Just thought of another example. I can remember as a child back in NYC during the Cuban Missle Crisis, when we had bomb drills. We had to crawl under our desks and put our arms over our heads. Like that would do any good against an atomic bomb? We were told that the missles were pointed straight at NYC. If that could have been accomplished, I am sure we would have been the target over any other city excepting maybe DC, especially in light of 9/11.
Any idea how atomic bomb drills makes a young child feel?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Yes, it probably is in any big city
